Between the Photographs

Pictures scattered across years

In a family album, faces fading with time.

As they do. And who could ever have thought 

Their story could end like this?

In a midcentury dress and veil

A woman's smile blazes, a man hovers proudly,

Husband-like. I cannot find cracks.

And if the camera does not lie,

I see love.

Here she leans against a rail, hand curled

Protectively around the mound

That soon will be a child. First son solemn,

Confident. As if she could stand 

between them and all the world.

As if she would.

Two boys in school clothing, sun bright upon their faces

The man is gone, but I cannot quite see

His absence. They learned bravado early,

These children. The younger one leans in slightly.

More poses, boys become men, a woman ages

And is seen no more. The flashbulb’s frozen moments.

And here we find another wedding, a man standing proud,

Like his father. We see love again, shining

In the eyes of a woman who does not yet know what lessons

Were learned in the gaps, in between the photos in the album.

And how could she have thought that it would come to this

When the camera was gone?