Are photos really a gift?

Because they remind you

That once upon a time

Between the shutter closing and opening,

Even if just for a moment,

Everything was perfect?

As I scrolled through my gallery

I came across a photo

I don’t remember taking.

Floating in the sea of others

Sharing the same fate

Lost until found again.

For minutes I sat and stared

At the cluster of colourful pixels on my screen

Trying to relive the moment.

The harder I stared,

The clearer the photo became,

Only for the memory to blur out.

And now that I look back

I thought I was capturing a memory

Preserving the moment to live it later

Little did I realize,

Through the lens of the camera,

I was further away from the moment than I could ever be!

The reason I didn't have photos

Of the happiest moments in my life,

Was because I was too busy

Living in the present

Too overwhelmed by emotion

To even think about pulling out my phone to take a picture.

As I thought about those moments

The late nights on the rooftops

Singing along to Ed Sheeran, One Direction or Coldplay

Watching reruns of cheesy rom-coms

Sneaking away to have ice cream at the mall

In the cold, blinding rain

I smiled, and then I cried.

I realized we never needed pictures

For we are immortal

Living in each other's memories

And as I lay down to reminisce,

And give in to the nostalgia

Tears streamed down my face

And the clearer the memories became,

The more the pictures blurred out.