Lady in the Mirror

A reflection takes her back to that day.

She holds the photo 
between the fingers 
of her left hand and turns it over
in search of a date
and a place.

She straightens in her chair 
and runs the fingers 
of her right hand
along the side of her head, 
pushing wet hair back off her face.

The young woman
in the photo stares
straight into the camera,
smiling softly as she leans back  
atop the old stone wall.

Her eyes are bright
and full of life,
her face smooth and relaxed
showing none of the lines 
of strain that will come later.

The sun in the photo 
is bright but it’s clearly a cold day  
as the woman on the wall
wears a heavy black sweater
pulled tightly up around her neck.

The woman holding the photo
turns it over again, 
then again. But there’s
no indication of when
or where it was taken. 

It arrived in the mail
that morning
with a simple card and message:
‘Found this today 
in a favorite old book. 
So many memories! 
Your friend, T.’

The woman 
holding the photo 
looks up from her dining room table 
and catches her reflection
in the mirror.

She leans back,
smiles softly,
her eyes grow bright.
She returns her gaze 
to the photo,
and remembers 
that day.