A Photograph
I wonder when it was
Was it about 10 years ago, much more before or later?
I have forgotten the title of the photogravure magazine
already
But the photograph in it has long been etched in my
memory
It was a picture of a dining room in a log house
Of a Puritan family somewhere in the New England area
In the center was shown a plain but solid family table
Nothing was on it
The room was neatly done up moreover
Two coarse but stout chairs were hung on the left wall
In the center right, a window
-- No luxury is necessary at all
It was a monochrome picture
With the light coming from
The accumulated time spent for cleaning and polishing
Scrupulously day after day condensed in the brilliance
of the wood
(I wish
I could look into somehow
The eyes of the person who took that picture)
I do believe
In the spirit of America supporting freedom
There still exist
The love and prayers of that Puritanism