Photo

Oh kind thief passing by you see me

Looking from this old picture on top

Of a pile put by the curb. It may be

The last evidence that such a one as I 

Ever was. Look! Someone wrote my name 

On the back and underlined it in red.

There's a date too -- impossibly long ago;

There was no 1913 -- it's underlined twice.

The handwriting is still clear; the letters 

Are spidery but elegantly made by someone 

Who'd practiced -- made perhaps to practice --

Long hours to develop a hand that bespoke 

Gentleness, civility, curiousity, intelligence 

Look at the curl in my middle initial 

An O -- Oscar? Oswald? Optimus?

If not for my sake then for hers

Who held the pen that carefully took note

Of me, take me home before the rain comes

And washes away her words. Carry me

In your hand or your bag or your back pocket.

Translate her words and me into ones and zeroes

That we may live a little while or forever.