Black and white days

Generations of old school
when days were black and white
and word kept was golden rule
so rigidly upright
in faded photographs today, proudly they stand.

Men immaculate, stern, chiselled faces,
alongside lady’s overly long dresses, hand in hand.
Breathing airs and graces,
and dull unsmiling middle path children
bewildered, buttoned tight to throats.
Flanked by lined, frowning relations,
antique apparel, attired  grey coats,
images of the lesser, strange folks, some gaunt.
Departed, past, under church steeple
passed on, reduced to nought,
the forgotten,
sepia faced people.

2 June 2007