The picture was yellow and fading,
the colors were no longer there
it was worn from her fingers,
how often it would sit in her pocket
and then she’d pull it out
tracing the faint expression
of a love once lost
some made snide remarks
about how she cherished
such a faded little photograph,
with half of it torn
but it was so much more
it was her lost love
her first love
the one that got away
like that Katy Perry song
it’s a reminder of what was
what used to be
those memories that she
struggles to remember
but the photograph helps her
just a boy at a carnival with the wind
in his hair and sand between his toes
even when she gets married
she still has that picture
but instead of her pocket
it sits in her jewelry box
she wonders where he went
what his name was
then one day she gets home
and her husband is holding that
photograph
and without a word,
he pulls out a torn photograph
of a girl in a sunhat at a carnival
-K
The Inner Workings 