She’s pored over old photographs
Shifting through layers
Trying to find her lost child
To see for herself the transformation

She wanted to see the signs
Of fear and pain, anger and shame
How the carefree child becomes the un-child
The clouding of the eyes
The disappearing smile

There were so many of them
Images in black and white
So tiny, now fading grey
The paper once shiny, now thin and frayed

But she could not see it
The absence
She could not recognize the emptiness
She always looked the same
Guiltless
Sinless
Always smiling
Always conscious of the probing
Finger-pointing eye of the camera

© 2009 Sonya Florentino

* with thanks to Ronald Peat for his critique

Sonya Florentino

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sorting-pictures-edited-11-11/