The Harrow Writers' Circle

My Smiling Photo

(verse 1313)

by Angela Lansbury

This photo shows a sunlit beach 

Leaning palms and golden sand 

That pretty, young girl must be me 

Smiling, walking hand-in-hand 

One brief holiday in heaven 

Santanned, hand held, a soft kiss 

That short white dress, my white sunhat 

Barefoot, feel sand, sensual bliss 

Tilt the brim of my white sunhat 

Shield one eye, so entrancing 

I recall beach bars with loud bands 

Where I kept slim by dancing 

Back home I wrote, ‘Come to London!’ 

He wrote, ‘I don’t live alone.’ 

So the romance we shared ended

In the cold, chill light of home

But I still have that old photo

He and I walk on the beach

‘though friends and lovers come and go

Joyful recall’s still in reach

If I met him now, he’d be old 

It just wouldn’t be the same 

But I fondly clutch my photo 

Seeing my smile cancels pain.  

-ends-

copyright Angela Lansbury