Polaroid

now.
in sunlight now i fall in awe
silent in the wonder as
it breathes its life into itself
this polaroid inside my hands
first there’s a white and quiet blank
unaffected, nothing but
the boundless nothing as it is
till a quick and eager hand
decides to push and change the plain
a love for life, a will to wish
such photographic genesis
compelled our need to bottle this—
this airborne restless bliss.
a dawn prismatic breaks to form
two squinting faces, hers and mine,
against the harshness of the day
(a sun which hung abrasive bright
has since returned to rest in cloud,
how now is now no longer now!)
since then the clover crowns we took
to weaving round our heads have slipped
and touched their mother earth again
but on this blank they will cement
and in this now we take the scent
of heavy clover summer air,
the now of now of now.
since we can hold this moment now
silent in the wonder we
can wait to see this nothing turn to something—
such wistful patience lines the clouds
in undeveloped sunshine.

—By Madelyn Carey