if i look at old photos for too long

i start to feel sick

a nauseating, earth shattering

sickness

in those moments

before the flash

time seems to stretch out

forever

everybody holding poses

sucking in stomachs

knees creaking from the weight of

crouching

then suddenly it’s over

and they’ll forget all about it.

until one day

many, many years later

a sad girl who sits

alone

rotting away in her room

feeling everything at once

but then again feeling

nothing

will stumble across it once more

and with tears in her eyes

wishing that little girl hadn’t

disappeared

she had so much life in her

so much hope, so much joy

words can not express the weight of her

loss

because now the girl has no life

she is but a breathing corpse

with withering joy yet still somewhere

hope

so she puts away the picture

temporary revelation gone with it

wiping away tears before her parents

worry

and she goes down for dinner

just like she does every day

ignoring the soul of the girl in the

picture

so suddenly it’s over

and she’ll forget all about it.