There
An hour or so
Every day
On the bench
By the shore
On the edge of the fog
I wonder why
But I think I know
That bridge has been enough trouble
For us
No
For me
Maybe just for me
Even before the fog
The bridge we could never cross
The bridge I could never cross
The bridge I could never
Take her across
Even before the fog
Every time I look into her eyes
I see all the many ways
I failed her
I fail her
In her eyes
I see our daughter
My daughter’s eyes
I’m not sure which eyes
I’ve failed most
Or which it hurts more
To look into
She’s on the other side
In the fog
I don’t miss the anger
In those eyes
I can’t bear
Her contempt
But I miss her
Not just the little girl
Who loved me
Daddy’s girl
I miss the woman
The little girl
All grown up
Spite and all
Dammit if I don’t love her
As much as her mother
Still
She said she wanted to find him
The love caught on the other side
When the fog fell
But I think it was as much
To escape the constant reminder
Of her anger at me
Not that I haven’t earned
Her pained gaze
That painful gaze
Whatever I failed to give
Her mother
I failed my daughter
More gravely
Caught up in my own shortcomings
As a husband
As a father
All her life
I couldn’t give her
All I wanted to give
It was far too late
When I realized
All she’d ever wanted
From me
Was the little spark
Behind the pain in my eyes
The little spark
Which caused the pain in my eyes
That little spark
Of love
That is a fire
In her mother’s eyes
I love her with all my being
But never felt good enough
For her
Never felt I could give enough
To her
In that fog of being
I was neither good
Nor giving
Those shortcomings
Ruled my being
They filled my eyes
Latent tears
Which never fell
I wish
I had the strength
To cry
To feel
I wish
I had the strength
To take the next step
But that is my shame
My strength
Has never been as strong
As my love
I don’t want to die
But I wish my body would hurry up
And get it over with
So that the woman I love
Can finally be
With the daughter
We love
I wonder why she lingers there
By the fog
By the bridge
But I think she wishes
Deep down below the love in her eyes
My body would just hurry up too
Lions Gate Bridge
Stanley Park
Vancouver
British Columbia, Canada
Taken on location for Motive, Season 3, 2014
Photographs tell me so many stories. It’s as if the words flow straight from some incorporeal essence connected with the image. Having already written the mother’s story in Enveloped, and the daughter’s story in The Fog of Love, it was only a matter of time before the Father’s story came.
It’s not quite what the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge asked for, but this is the way a photograph tells its Story to me.