We Are Unprepared

We have lovingly framed
many of our old photographs
of her and placed them around
the house in various places where
we are certain to cast upon them.
They are there for us to enjoy
her personality, her character,
as unlike any other as we are
ourselves unique.  We look and
recall events over the almost
twenty years she shared with us.
We see her precocious, excited
and engaged persona, doing what
she loved, entrancing us; her
life companions.  Our lives so 
much lengthier than hers,
however.  Seeing her is a comfort,
we mourn less.  It is only when
riffling through old photos
absent-mindedly that we come
abreast of our grief, when she
appears suddenly and we are
unprepared, our loss magnified.