Love Poem: Mom's Old Photos - 1st Half Text Plus Full Audio
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Written by: Mark Stellinga

Mom's Old Photos - 1st Half Text Plus Full Audio

Here's the scoop, friends...
   This is, as indicated, the 1st HALF of this fairly lengthy poem. The 2nd half had to be posted separately due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations. No other way I could manage to make it happen... 
  
Thanks for reading, or listening, or both...whatever the case may be -
Cheers, Mark



While pulling down boxes from high on a shelf in a closet one morning last May 
Me and my wife were there sorting things out ‘cause my mother had just passed away -
A large tattered envelope dropped to the floor that would keep us there most of the day. 
 
Picking it up - but not reading the label - I handed it off to my wife.
When Melanie read the inscription out loud…what I heard cut my heart like a knife.
“Photos to help those who loved me remember. Please cherish them…this was my life.”

Mom was tenacious when “picture time” came.   Her camera seemed part of her hand.
I can still hear her, “Just shut up and smile…when you’re my age you’ll all understand,”
Whenever we whined, and I’m sure that our finding this packet of photos was planned! 

She knew in her wisdom the day would arrive when her photos of so long ago
Would serve to remind us how happy we were, and certainly most of you know
That memories are greatly enhanced by those moments that only a picture can show.

Not chronologically placed in the envelope, Mel dumped them out on the bed.
The first one I spotted was truly amazing. It showed them the day they were wed. 
My dad in a suit that he must have outgrown…and my mom with a veil on her head. 

Flipping it over, to see if she’d dated the shot, I would get a surprise.
‘Pictures are worth, they say, thousands of words…and, a picture - they say - never lies.
And this one, I think, proves how happy we were to be married…just look at our eyes!’

A caption in rhyme!    Mom loved to write verse.   I decided to set it aside.
The next one I looked at showed all of our families together, when Dad’s brother died.
Except for the days when my folks passed away, I think that’s the hardest I’ve cried,

And likely the reason I’ve often had trouble allowing affection to start.
Not that I haven’t loved anyone since quite as much as I did Uncle Bart…
It’s just that, with time, you get used to these things…and the pain isn’t new to your heart.
 
Well, seeing these two was enough to convince me we needed to look at each one.
Mel felt the same so she whipped out her phone and thoughtfully speed-dialed our son,
Telling him, “Tommy, we’re over at Granny’s...it’s going to be late when we’re done.

“While clearing a closet we found some old pictures his mother and relatives took,
And naturally, Carl, out of sheer curiosity, feels we should have us a look.
I think so, too, and it may take a while, so, honey…today…you’re the cook!”

That was the only loose end to contend with, and now that we had it addressed,
We could begin to consider our options…and after they’d all been assessed…
Wisely devise the most practical method for viewing - and sorting - the rest.

Mel was the first to suggest a proposal. “Let’s start making piles here and there
By looking for details that tie them together, like - when they were taken, and where.
Watch for the signs of a girl growing up - such as outfits - and…length of her hair!” 

“Here’s a real old one.    It’s sad how they fade.   I’d say she was probably three.” 
Then I found a shot of her still in a crib, and remarked, “This reminds me of me,”
As Mel dug one out that was actually in color…one of the few that would be!

We giggled our way through the bulk of the pack - but some had us fighting back tears.
A few of the recent ones showed…if you knew her…a woman combating her fears
From coping with cancer, and bouts of depression from being without Dad for ten years. 

“This was my life,” seemed an odd way to phrase it, but that was precisely the truth.
There, in the piles we were slowly constructing, was Mom - from the days of her youth - 
To when, due to illness, her weight had decreased and she looked a bit long in the tooth.    

Her hair, as a child, was as black as a raven. Her eyes - a deep emerald green, 
And - up ‘til Dad died - her smile was as pretty as any that I’ve ever seen.
We both were enthralled to discover a photo of her as a homecoming queen!

Mel found a great one that showed Mom and Dad on the hood of an old yellow car.
I found a funny one showing my dad proudly flaunting a long, ugly scar.
The back of the photo read, “Here’s what you get when you tangle with drunks in a bar!”

More than a few showed them sitting on horses. They rode them all over the place.
Another I found was of Dad when in high school…in uniform…playing third base, 
And one was a close-up of him at their wedding, with frosting all over his face!


Be sure to find and read the 2nd HALF ending, it's a truly wonderful story.