Today I Took Your Picture Down

Today I took your picture down
And carried it away
Its meaning long forgotten now
Forgotten let it stay
Its welcome worn to wariness
Its thousand words all said
A keepsake keeps a love alive
But shrines are for the dead
Today I turned my back upon
The celebrated face
That stole a piece of every soul
That wandered through this place
That seemed so like a living thing
All conversation died
Or turned to face what must have been
The artist’s joy and pride
Today I took your picture down
The coolly painted lips that spoke without a sound
The eyes that followed me around
Darin me to try and stare them down
Today I took your picture down
And every line intact
But something soft had gone from it
That never can come back
Some warm familiarity
Grown distant now and cold
Today I took your picture down
One of us had to go