it hung 
in a place of honor 
above the love seat 
in my grandmother's 
nineteenth century parlor 
... 
it hung 
through my childhood years 
 through my teenage years 
and on into my adult years 
... 
daily 
my grandmother  
 looked into that picture 
 recalling and reliving 
some private distant memory 
that flickered a moment's joy  
in her fading grey eyes 
... 
one day 
when still a little boy 
she showed me 
 the picture's secret door 
look closely 
 at the beautiful   
young woman  
sitting 
at her dressing table 
 looking at her mirrored 
image 
... 
yes I see that 
... 
look again 
at the whole image  
until 
 you see a skull 
... 
I was fascinated by  
how the picture could change 
before my eyes 
but 
I remember my 
grandmother saying 
... 
the day 
 when you become a man  
you will understand 
the secret 
in that picture 
... 
my grandmother died 
before I understood 
the picture's secret 
before I became a man 
... 
the passing of time 
 taught me it's wisdom 
I came to know 
I came to accept 
as my grandmother 
had come to know 
and accept 
that she  
was once that beautiful 
young woman 
with her own dressing table 
cloaked in exotic smells  
from an array of sensual bottles 
of shapes and sizes that hypnotized 
all who came near 

she knew 
just as I now know  
that time would sculpt us 
with age and  frailty 
into a mirror 
of the skull 
in her picture 
named 
"all is vanity" 

... 
Keith O'Connor 
Aug 3   2001 
Ottawa Canada 
www.tinmangallery.com