Your Picture

This is about a dream I had. That's all I'll say.

I have your picture

That one from adolescent days

That I took behind the school

Of you.

You look so young in it

So open and so hopeful,

So big-eared,

Sitting on the grass, candid,

With your back to the concrete wall

Your knee was bent

Your backpack to your right

And a bag of chips or crackers-

So long ago I can't recall-

Resting in your lap.

You were so quiet

So serious, so thoughtful,

But in my precious photo

You're laughing

Your hat crooked on your head,

Your school-issued jacket missing.

I can see your socks

In that picture,

White, with two black stripes

Around your skinny juvenile ankles,

Just like the chains we envisioned

School put upon you.

This simple snapshot

Taken so many years ago,

This picture

Of the meaningless days of you and I,

This photo

I don't know why I took it, but

This captured moment is

Memorized in my heart, is

Imprinted in my head, is

Taped to my dashboard,

A monument to how

We didn't know, did we

Those moments were all we'd get

We'd be swallowed in our lives

Our unrealized freedom snatched away,

Lost in everyday

And I'll wonder

Forever

Or until tomorrow morning

What happened

To those trouble-free, happy moments

Of you and I.

Author's Note

I don't know if it's any good, but it makes me sort of sad.

Reviews

[Amanda Dawn Sanderson-G..]

I really enjoyed reading your words in this poem. It really captures the moments in life that some of us forget, while others always rememeber. Of times when we were happy, no matter what. It makes me want to be young again and I know this may sound silly as I am only 23 years old but I am a wife and a mother and once upon a time I had days where I could do as I pleased and could smile about nothing. Of course, now I smile about the things I have made and laugh at the moments I cherish with my family - but nothing is like the years when you are young and your responsibilities are unknown. It's beautiful and you are right, it makes me feel sort of sad too.

[Cassie Meno]

It really catches the emotion of growing up and realizing how fast time goes by. When we were little we used to think we'd be stuck in school forever, and we took advantage of all of the friendships. When adults told us we wouldn't be friends forever, we didn't believe them. "That can't happen to us!" But as we get older, we start to realize that everything the grown ups said was completely true; we just didn't want to believe it. Love it Shelby. It makes me a bit melancholy too