What Old Photographs Think

These vibrant times

reduced

to graying photographs,

soiled with age,

reeking of dampness,

stained by misplaced glasses

and creased with thoughtlessness,

ask

quietly

for you

to color them in

with imagination.

An Agony of Hyacinths

Lying sideways in the wet grass,
trying to capture the hyacinth
in late day sun.
The click of a shutter and I look,
instantly,
at the image and smile.
Then a shadow passes
and I wonder what I've lost.
No longer waiting
in excusite agony
for the film to be processed,
wondering,
hoping,
that just one image
would match
what I saw with my eyes.
Befuddled by progress.
Unwilling
to go back.