Picture of My Folks

Here’s a poem I found in a notebook and transcribed. I miss my mom.

Picture of My Folks

James D. McCallister

Framed like a shot

From a movie

My parents gaze at

Charleston harbor

Mom in the foreground

Eyes hidden by shades

Pop in the background

Leaning on the Battery rail

Her feelings are difficult to gauge

An implacable dignity

But his fatigue and concern

Drape heavy across his shoulders

The black iron railing above mortared stones

Holding him erect

She had been dying for some time

When the photo was taken

And she would not live to see

the ocean again

But my mother fought for two more years

did not Accept her impending doom

Which means finality must have been

Far from her mind

Or at least I hope it was.