The Photograph of My Grandparents

To hide the sooted fireplace stood their youth, A photograph within an ornate frame. Whatever meaning pictures have, what truth To last beyond a life, was here to blame.

Posed beside her, taller, and serene, He was defiance for the hardest year; And she, dressed in a gown that once was clean, Looked fiercely straight into the far and near.

When I saw the picture last, her gown Was speckled with the ash of many fires; And dust and web-cracks made a smiling clown Of that serenity which time admires.

Search out the farthest rooms and you will find Not anywhere the action and the guilt. The photograph is stored away, and kind To them. This is the falling house they built.