She’s pored over old photographs <br />Shifting through layers <br />Trying to find her lost child <br />To see for herself the transformation <br /> <br />She wanted to see the signs <br />Of fear and pain, anger and shame <br />How the carefree child becomes the un-child <br />The clouding of the eyes <br />The disappearing smile <br /> <br />There were so many of them <br />Images in black and white <br />So tiny, now fading grey <br />The paper once shiny, now thin and frayed <br /> <br />But she could not see it <br />The absence <br />She could not recognize the emptiness <br />She always looked the same <br />Guiltless <br />Sinless <br />Always smiling <br />Always conscious of the probing <br />Finger-pointing eye of the camera <br /> <br />© 2009 Sonya Florentino <br /> <br />* with thanks to Ronald Peat for his critique<br /><br />Sonya Florentino<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sorting-pictures-edited-11-11/
