old photograph

lil murphy and kathleen keogh
stood outside a farm house in knocknadruce
one day in 1940 long ago
for some photographs
nations were at war far away
the wind whipped kathleen's hair
she smiled and was as beautiful as the day
when summer shadow drank the summer's fire
so that even after the tumbling of fifty years
in this cold electric kitchen where i sit
i wish i'd known her
and feel the grief of it