Old Photographs - Mark Eitzel

Old photographs

Black and white convictions

I remember the way you were facing this restriction

Old pieces of paper

Memories to fight over

Self-interest and loss

There’s nothing to remember

We tried to look back

We never told your family

Nothing to keep back

We lived up to your memory

Sayonara, old Singapore

Dancing women in barrooms

Probably not around anymore

Tattoos of sinking ships

Silver, long bruised black

Some old photographs

Fixing history won’t get it back

Never told anyone

We never told the family

We tried to live up

To live up to your memory

I don’t believe in anything I ever said or did

The pain you kept buried

Life you kept hid

I live up to nothing

There’s nothing to live up to

Just a rage that’s buried

And a silence to live through

We never told anyone

We never told a soul

Never saw you get free

We lived up to your memory

We lived up to your memory

I don’t believe in anything

I ever said or did