This is inspired by a photo Ange Hardy shared on Twitter this morning so I thank her for the inspiration.
I saw in her picture myself with my own mum behind the lens. And I tried to see through my mothers eyes, and to see the thoughts that she would say. What prayer might she whisper? I wanted to try and narrow this down to an end point that distilled how my mother would feel taking this picture of her young boy with his toothy grin. To finish with that one line that might define that kind of unconditional love that I’ve always been secure in.
86. Smile always if you can son.(10 May 15)
He pulled all the power he could muster,
From his four years of experience,
And staring at the camera,
Mischievously determined,
To smile his way into eternity,
While the eyes that stared back,
On the other side of the lens,
From the future of his posterity
So longed to utter gentle advice,
To share the guidance time had given them,
“Don’t try so hard my son,
The smiling it should come easy,
It’s the crying in life that’s hard”,
But the maternal overrules the eternal,
And so his illusions chart their own course.
As she hoped the smiling always won.
Always the smiling,
Smile always if you can son.
© Jim Laing 2015.
