I'm looking back in time, it
doesn't strike me straight away
I'm too intrigued to see  those
faces once again.  A small group
of six apparently happy relatives
posed on a hilltop somewhere
with aerial view of fields behind.
With all the knowledge I have
it occurs to me that these smiles
they wear were really masks
and beneath were the concerns
of holding their individual
loves and lives together.
Each of us are doing that each
and every second of a day.
Four of the six have passed on:
But not before their bodies
were aged and weakened
simply by being alive.
It is a strange path we tread
from oblivion to oblivion,
and along the way we might
be captured in some nanosecond
of time in a photograph, where
we bravely put on a smile
as if we are comfortable and
know what it is actually all about.

Have a happy new year folks.

© Griffonner 2024