somewhere in the past
before my grandfather's time
I paid a visit
back in my family tree
I'm not sure how it happened

I just closed my eyes
tried to think of nothing else
until I passed out
I awoke in a strange land
a time of horse and buggy

kept pinching myself
the pain was real enough
it wasn't a dream
but it was all very weird
no one could see or hear me

recognized the house
it was my family home
familiar faces
seeming contemporaries
but no one there that I knew

I couldn't stay long
felt the pull of the present
felt myself fading
when they posed for a portrait
I stood in the back and smiled

that's how it happened
the camera caught my image
looking like a ghost
a strange man standing in back
whom no one saw at the time

"There's a spirit there"
the family legend goes
"We call him Oscar"
today no one notices
old "Oscar's ghost" looks like me


Del Maximo
© October 8, 2009