The Polaroid Case

I found a cardboard box tonight Beneath a coat I never wear Dust along the corners Your handwriting still there A beach in late September A diner by the lake You looked away from the camera In almost every one One photo from your birthday One from a rainy street One where we missed the last train And walked home in the heat I kept turning every picture over Reading dates in fading blue Every picture got the moment right Every picture got the ending wrong You still smile from every frame But you've been gone too long Every picture got the moment right That's the part I'm thinking of Funny how a photograph can keep What a memory can't hold There was one from New Year's morning Coffee cups beside the bed One from your old apartment Before we packed and left One with all our friends together Half of them have moved away Everybody looked forever In a temporary day Then I found the final picture Hidden underneath the rest Taken just a week before You left without a word I kept turning every picture over Trying not to look at you Every picture got the moment right Every picture got the ending wrong You still smile from every frame But you've been gone too long Every picture got the moment right That's the part I'm thinking of Funny how a photograph can keep What a memory can't hold I put the box back on the shelf Thought that I was finally done Then I kept one photograph And left the others where they were Every picture got the moment right Every picture got the ending wrong You still smile from every frame But you've been gone too long Every picture got the moment right That's the part I'm thinking of Funny how a photograph can keep What a memory can't hold Back inside that cardboard box The years all stay the same Only you kept moving Out beyond the frame