Old photographs

The photographs are old,

some faded, spent flowers,

forgotten, left in a shoe box left

in a closet smelling of mothballs

and cedar, sisters in form-fitting

dresses, bobbed hair, smiling

at the photographer. I know them

but I know them thirty years later

as they were careening to old age

but smiling, always smiling

at the photographer. They knew me,

thirty year later, and we all smiled

at the photographer.

Photograph: WPA Artists, 1930s, Michigan Department of Natural Resources.