Camera Shy

A Poem

Photo by Ariel Prajatama: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-taking-photo-outside-3252762/

it’s another night of second guesses
while i linger in moments
best left in the dust

but i remember long-ago days
and the way the pictures call back
to all those memories i keep locked away

and you,
you’re the centerpiece
of everything

but i’m the absent piece
because i always stood behind the lens
while the rest of you had all your fun and games

and maybe i regret it
a little now,
just a tad

you always asked me why
i was so camera shy,
and i never had an answer

because i wanted to soak in the time
spent with you, always you,
the flame of my life

and maybe i never got over
the way you kept your distance
as if i could never be more

more, more, more —
that’s what i craved,
but it’s too little, too late