The Picture On The Wall

 

 

                         When the sun comes in

                         on a lazy summer day

                         bored by its easy largesse

                         my soul rocks itself

                         to a twilight of sleep

                         (a summer together

                         at a mountain resort

                         so at ease with ourselves

                         a moment forever etched)

 

 

                         There is a slight frown

                         on all the faces

                         under the smile

                         a sense of foreboding perhaps

                         or the afternoon sun

                         causing that little squint?

 

 

                         We knew even then

                         the transiency of what we had

                         what is now is now

                         what is gone is gone

 

 

 

                                                      Jack Mashman

                                                      1991