Black and white sunshine beams forevermore
From those photos stashed away in boxes.
Hugs and smiles, suspended permanently.
Immutable halides show unknown ghosts
Recognised by fewer as the days fly.
Albums passed down show family strangers,
Wreathed in real sepia and blue black tones,
Dressed in their finery, or uniforms,
All long dead but living silently here.
Bandmasters, tourists, dinners and dances,
Beaches, camels, holiday romances,
Pets, cars and houses, men who took chances,
Somehow different from modern selfies,
Old photograph stories wait to be told.
Who will be haunted enough by the old?
How fleeting imagery leaves us behind,
Times forgotten patiently hid, waiting
For discovery by storytellers,
Driven onward through curiosity
To reincarnate identities new.
Forever shining whilst paper survives,
Write new found memories of long lost lives.
Harry Rogers in the Red Bedroom 5th September 2022.
harri seeing red 