Ann Christine Tabaka’s most recent poem to appear here was “The One Who Wields the Sword” (November 2018).

Old Photographs
By Ann Christine Tabaka

Trapped beneath a curtain
of crepuscular remembrances,
an eerie sensation—looking
back on old photographs.

A black and white specter
of a life I no longer recognize,
touched with shades of gray.

Vacant eyes staring back
at me from an inaccessible
realm. A world long forgotten.

Wrangled images—a lamentable
parenthesis of my existence.
Ephemeral emotions overwhelm,
then enact acedia.

A deep breath exhales. I wipe
my memories clean. Then,
once more remove all
evidence of my past life.

Box closed.
Drawer shut.
Life continues . . .