I found an old photo

I found an old photo
from the days when photos were paper
I saw me
not well-focussed
and a little too distant
and you
you must have been behind the camera
invisible

I have changed since then
believe me
I have

I was thinner then
and darker
and felt the world less

and now I find myself
turning over the picture
and my memories
to find where you have gone

I sat there among the young ones

I sat there among the young ones, my house and hope gone. The photographer must have thought I’d make a moving picture as I hunched forward, face in my hands, my daughter looking away from me. He must have knelt on the muddy torn grass to place the clever metaphoric clouds in my background. He must have made a noise to make me look round. But I did not look at him when I turned round, I looked at the man with the gun and the knife, who left only me to tell the story. And the camera he took from the photographer’s hand. 

 

Can also be seen at http://spontaneity.org/issue02/i-sat-there-among-the-young-ones/