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Poetry | Life | Time
Photograph
A poem
at some point, the people left the photos and became
a rectangle of ocean, waves softly lapping the shore
mountains in the distance gently touching the sky
herds of bison and antelope trekking across frozen ground
crossing the deep ruts of covered wagons
at some point, their words echoed through canyons
up to the heavens and blew through the winds
and carried change to every ear
at some point, little girls became old women
and young boys, old men
grandmothers became spirits, and grandfathers the same
their friends dropping off the face of the map
into deep ocean chasms
formless lives captured in the truth of the moment
less than a second of thought
multiplied and tethered to the paper in an image
became free to wander
yet impotent to change themselves
at some point, there was no one left to know more
of eyes and smile
the thoughts behind them were lost to time
I’ve been thinking about what happens to photographs over time.
Thank you for reading my work.
Natalie
