20_20

Frozen images crack and fade as pages turn.

We flip through this book, remnants of our youth.
We are still young, but then we were younger still.

We laugh at old newspaper clippings and birthday cards
and little bits of string. These things were not funny, once.

In a pastel era long ago we were the smiling faces in this book.

We are not old just yet.
We have not withered like so many pressed flowers,
we are not merely vibrant color on paper and we will not take pictures today
as we flip through this book,
because pictures are never quite enough.