Before We Knew

Edges curled in dim light,

a face half-hidden by shadow,

a smile tentative, caught

before names could carve it in stone.

Fingers trace the faded print,

a stranger’s eyes pinching a knot

inside that stretches and pulls

like a silent thread unwinding.

The photograph breathes dust,

a frozen moment of someone

I never touched, never spoke to,

yet somehow still keeps me awake.

Between the cracks of time,

I see a life waiting to begin,

but all I hold is this

fractured smile, uneven and still.