You find the canister where the rivets rust
Kodak gold wrapped in a velvet glove
Shutter clicks but the spring has turned to dust
Twenty frames of a life you used to love
Film beneath the tracks hums low and sweet
Peeling paint falls like confetti at your feet
Train shakes the darkroom built in concrete deep
You hold the negative where the secrets sleep
Sprockets catch on the gears of yesterday
Light leaks bloom like bruises on the frame
Platform echoes with the debt you did not pay
Names dissolve in developer's acid rain
Film beneath the tracks hums low and sweet
Peeling paint falls like confetti at your feet
Train shakes the darkroom built in concrete deep
You hold the negative where the secrets sleep
Altos hum in the vaulted station hall
Breath held long on a sustained high C
Flashbulb pops and you remember it all
The way she laughed on the 3:15
Film beneath the tracks hums low and sweet
Peeling paint falls like confetti at your feet
Train shakes the darkroom built in concrete deep
You hold the negative where the secrets sleep
Chemical fingers stain your thumbnail blue
Fixer burns where the holy water dried
Contact sheet reveals the ghost of you
Standing where the express train cried
Shutter clicks one last time in the dark
Aperture wide for the coming spark
No viewfinder left to frame the shot
Just instinct and the light you caught
You wind the lever till the tension breaks
Canister seals with a plastic sigh
Morning commuters step on what it makes
Silver halide buried as the trains rush by
Film beneath the tracks hums low and sweet
Peeling paint falls like confetti at your feet
Train shakes the darkroom built in concrete deep
You hold the negative where the secrets sleep
Film beneath the tracks hums low and sweet
Peeling paint falls like confetti at your feet
Negative strips drying on the wire
You walk away before the next train arrives
