Reflections

PAST

I stumble across a photograph
Relegated by time to memory
Of a bright summer day
And bright summer smiles

The boy stares at me
But his face, I hardly recognize
The girl studies him
Engrossed in his youth

His stare is unnerving
Their surroundings are foreign
But for all the beauty of scenery
She becomes the focus

She studies the boy,
like she studies the world
Irrepressible, irresistible
And now in my hands, immortal

Now her beauty will never fade
Like the memory of her scent
The octave of her laugh
The warmth of her smile
The passion of her embrace
The tears of her sorrow
The joys of our past

PRESENT

She calls me up for coffee
And professes her remembrance
“Its been forever” she says
I readily agree

And sitting at the cafe
My palms are sweaty
The butterflies return
From the long hiatus of adulthood

She enters at long last
After a lifetime of waiting
Even the sorrows of her changing face
Cannot conceal such beauty

She sits and memory seeps
Like an intoxicating cloud of recollection
But the ocean of childhood enthusiasm
Has been replaced by adult vanities

We catch up and reminisce
“Oh he’s working there still”
Small talk and laughs
And a hug and goodbyes

“Let’s do this again soon”
I am still in love with the girl
In the photograph
But not the stranger I just met

FUTURE

What hope is there for me
What love can lie in store?
For my heart has already been given
To a nonexistent polaroid