THE PHOTOGRAPH

A lovely young girl with long blond hair
is leaning upon her mother's shoulders,
looking beyond the camera.

           That was in her young years
           when promise and plan of future life
           shone from eyes and rosy cheeks:
           promise undefined but present
           waiting to be nourished into form.

           But here now, stands her older presence before us:
           eyes and skin pale and lusterless,
           strident voice, unbridled silhouette
           showing a buffeting by circumstance.

           Now, the early photograph, with eloquence of youth,
           witnesses to blemish, spawned by confusion of loyalty.
           Like wary boxers circling in their ring,
           hope contends defeat, relentlessly:
           no outcome, as yet, inevitable.