When You Showed Me The Pictures We Took Together
By Rania Naim
You showed me the smile that I terribly miss
the smile of a girl glowing with joy
the smile of a girl who doesn’t know how to cry
the smile that went away when you did
they reminded me of the things we used to do
the places we discovered
the stories we told
and the love we declared
they reminded me of things I’d forgotten
of fairy-tales I tucked under my bed
of memories I promised never to revisit
when I was forced to forget you
you showed me my real heart
how I took pictures in the light
how I made silly faces
how I only took happy pictures
now my pictures are darker
now my smile is forced
now I don’t even care about pictures
because you’re not in them
but you’re showing me these pictures
with a smile on your face
like it’s nostalgia, like it’s the past
like it’s part of something you no longer feel
but here I am looking at them
and looking at you
wondering if you’re also secretly wishing
that we could take them all again.