Today I took your picture down

And carried it away

Its meaning long forgotten now

Forgotten let it stay

Its welcome worn to wariness

Its thousand words all said

A keepsake keeps a love alive

But shrines are for the dead Today I turned my back upon

The celebrated face

That stole a piece of every soul

That wandered through this place

That seemed so like a living thing

All conversation died

Or turned to face what must have been

The artist's joy and pride Today I took your picture down

The coolly painted lips that spoke without a sound

The eyes that followed me around

Darin me to try and stare them down Today I took your picture down

And every line intact

But something soft had gone from it

That never can come back

Some warm familiarity

Grown distant now and cold

Today I took your picture down

One of us had to go