Negative Reaction

Negative Reaction

I lay the fading photograph before her

Search for a glint of recognition in her eyes

I see her happiness on her wedding day

She sees three strangers, she doesn’t recognise.

Uncle Jim’s on the right, the proudest best man

My father, the groom, stands handsome and tall

My beautiful mother in the midst of them

All locked in a memory; she cannot recall.

The yellowed, lace dress still hangs in the loft

A treasured memento of her special day

A bloom from her flowers, though dried, still survives

But her memory has faded away...