At the bottom of
the hole you left
I found the negative
of the photo never taken
in the digital age of cameras.
I couldn’t quite make you out
but in the red twilight
of the lab,
my finger trailing gently
in the still waters
that pull people out of dreaming paper,
I felt something unspeakable emerge,
perhaps most akin, if anything,
to sunshine.
It must have been you—
a remnant left
languidly developing
days after you’d gone.
Thank you.
Now I think I see
what all the tearful laughter
was about