Family Portrait

Five faces smile back
From the tiny image.
Five separate versions of happiness;
Each glances ahead in its own version
Of the joyful future.
But zoom in,
And begin to see the details:
Eyes that don't quite light up,
Each pair gazing off in another direction;
Arms that don't quite touch;
Bodies leaning slightly away from one another;
An arm wrapped around a raised shoulder.
The subtle signs of discontent.

The photographer sees five nearly identical faces;
Five people nearly the same;
But we are all separate.
One of us is not like the other.
We indulge in our own brands of discontent:
The angsty teenager;
The brooding, troublesome middle child;
The oldest, bitter, educated, longing for a career;
A mother who wants more for her children;
A father struggling to provide the world.