Misplaced Photographs
a faded yellowed envelope
under a nightstand drawer i found
where misplaced it lay undisturbed
for many long and lovely years.
inside were photographs:
a little girl of five or six;
a wedding reception;
couples old and young.
all were strangers to me
except a woman, widowed now
whose face i recognized as one who
had sold us months ago some bedroom furniture.
she was, in several photographs, standing
next to a man; probably her husband then.
together they knew and loved, i thought,
every person in every aged picture.
these artifacts of perished days
i held within my hands as a feeling
like sadness, bittersweet and soft,
swept through my heart
like leaves in an autumn wind.
– Jerry Dan Deutschendorf