BUT WHO TOOK

THE PICTURE?

I sat there all alone, on a rock,
single and silent, up there
in the green hills, in a quiet spot,
overlooking trees, trees, Vermont,
in summer, high above the highway….
Slowly I heard voices coming up
a path, then around a curve, almost
to my spot. They were a couple.
It looked like they wanted to be alone,
but first they began taking pictures.

She snapped him. He snapped her.
Before leaving – getting on my way –

I asked them if I could picture them together.
And so she handed me her digital camera.
They smiled. They posed. They thanked me.
Then I continued on my journey
along the Long Trail, single and silent,
picturing myself all alone, large rocks,
large rocks and trees, trees, Vermont?

When they get home,

when they show their pictures,

will someone seeing them together ask,

"But who took the picture?"

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2009