For Steve (January 26, 1947 – November 6, 2009)

My wedding anniversary is tomorrow, July 4th. I want to thank someone who is no longer with us in person who made a great contribution by taking photos of our wedding ceremony. The official photography didn't turn out to well and Steve, a doctor of epidemiology, unknowingly became the official photographer.

Blinded by technique
planned photography failed.
Meaning not seen, not captured
left us with only memories
fading fast as footprints
beneath the tide.

You took up the task.
A natural with the camera
unasked you framed friends
family, the interplay of lives
against sky, sea, surf,
sand crystals in sunlight.

Your eye trained to see microbes
could discern the details of life
see miracles unfolding beneath
the veneer of motion,
the flow of bodies and water
on sand under sky,
the intensity of light
refracted and reflected,
events fleeting on into
the fog of memory.

Time moves everything.

Thank you for those eyes
that could save lives, that also
saved moments of life.
For you saw us that day
as our hearts would recall.
You saw beyond color and light
beyond shadow and form
deep into the molecules
of meaning
you travelled
and travel, still.

©2010 Joanne Elliott