Fragile Images
I wanted to tell you in passionate verses
About the book you’ve come here for
About the glass negatives that weren’t yet photographs
With a touch of humor you may recognize from me
I wanted to express, in resonant sounds,
About its creation, a refined process
About the chemical process and its many secrets
But am I going to do that? Uh, well, no
I wanted to describe it in flowery sentences
How Cuypers was already thinking about flyers back then
How he already wanted to capture his work and his world
But unfortunately, I haven’t accomplished that mission
I wanted to take you along with rhythmic rhymes
To the restoration funded by crowdfunding
About all the discoveries, the painstaking work
But I’ve lost my way in a fragile world
Lost in a world of glass negatives
Of fragile images that continue to challenge me
They continued to fascinate me, and I kept discovering
Lost in details, full of wonder and questions
I’ll start reading right away, though, later
Lost, but hungry—hungry for more
I’ll start reading right away later
Sorry, but you won’t be seeing me at the drinks reception