Tintype Reflections

Fading...nearly faded away...
Such serious countenances:

Was everyday life so difficult
that smiles were impossible to find;
or did you reserve your laughter
for private moments, when unconfined?
Did you love to write, or did you draw,
or was it for music that you pined?
Were your thoughts just like this tintype;
and were your dreams similarly colorblind?
Were women truly taught to be silent;
did they live their lives sadly resigned?
Could men have been so domineering,
or where they often elegant and refined?

Life fading...faded and gone...
How very austere and reserved:

When you were alone with one another,
did you speak openly of love and romance;
or did you hide away all emotion,
denying all, due to life's circumstance?
How did you manage to exist day by day;
were you happy, or did you leave life to chance?
Would your serious demeanor ever change;
could you come alive at a loving glance?
Now I wonder: Would you have liked my world;
would you think these times so very advanced?
And if I could take your picture to make a memory,
would you stand unsmiling, still trapped within your trance?

Lora Frikken ~ Begun 8-19-01 and finished 2-8-03