Chapter 1 - The Photograph

The Photograph



Lifted out of its dusty case,

A relic from unknown past,

Shadows nimbly staying still,

Actors in a forgotten cast.

.

The paper crackles angrily,

As I try to flatten out

Pictures, people, and a time,

Left forever in doubt.

.

Their clothes, their faces,

So foreign now, their smiles faded to black,

I look through a window to a different time,

I don't think they'll welcome me back.

.

The wind rustles the Photograph,

Yet this family's clothes move not,

Their faces shrouded in mystery,

The script an irrelevant plot.

.

These people, stationary and helpless,

Forgotten forever `til now,

My quest, my journey, my purpose,

Discover their life, but how?

.

I begin with the torn Photograph,

Caressing its forgotten souls,

The world moved on and away from them,

Their time, their life - so many holes.

.

And how, I ask, to understand,

A life led near century ago,

What values, what demands enforced,

Whence did this family go?

.

Their lavish clothes speak of riches,

Yet their dirtied faces do not,

I share in their stark discomfort,

Their eyes tell a hated plot.

.

Who were these people posing,

To be taunting me with looks,

Holding their secrets precious,

Illiterate, or indulged in books?

.

So many questions, so few answers,

I wish they'd leave me be,

Who were they to be immortalized on paper?

Who were they, these rich, these poor three?

.

Their lives were captured in a moment,

Summed up in a single click,

Their past was written on their faces,

Their future still shrouded in mist.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment