I don’t even have a photograph to show.

So often those I love move on,

So I put them away in the boxes of my heart

like old photographs.

We haven’t even gotten to that point yet.

You aren’t some photograph

But a real, living, sentient being

Whom I cherish in the present

And have yet to even click the shutter on.

What will I show people in the future

When I talk about you?

How much I love you?

How you teased me in a thousand ways

And came back from Texas to visit me

At random places?

The 23^rd Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer?

Those aren’t things to show

But words to say

When the person in the photograph

Has gone away.

I haven’t taken your picture yet.

Just hold still for one moment, please.

Just one more smile for the camera.

Say cheese…

Click.

Where did you go?

Oh God,

Please no.

Please no.

I don’t even have a photograph to show.