A Black and White Film in a Coloured Camera

A Black and White Film in a Coloured Camera

He carried a camera full of colour,
Red and yellow, green and blue,
Every picture bright and vivid,
Every frame a different view.

But inside the camera sat,
A film that only showed black and white,
Every photograph he took,
Turned darkness into shades of light.

He couldn’t understand it,
He checked the camera twice,
The world outside was full of colour,
But his pictures paid no price.

He photographed the morning sun,
It came out black and white,
He photographed a field of flowers,
Still no colour came to light.

He photographed a smiling woman,
Her dress had once been red,
But on the photograph it faded,
Into grey instead.

He started wondering why the film,
Refused to show the colours there,
Perhaps the camera wasn’t broken,
Perhaps it simply didn’t care.

Then he looked at all the pictures,
And something strange appeared,
The colours weren’t the important part,
It was the feelings they had captured.

Black and white could show a smile,
It could show a tear,
It could hold a thousand memories,
And bring yesterday near.

He realised that colour doesn’t always,
Tell you what is real,
Sometimes black and white can show,
The things that people feel.

So he stopped trying to replace the film,
And let the pictures tell their tale,
Because sometimes losing colour,
Is how the deeper colours prevail.

A black and white film,
Inside a coloured camera,
Had taught him something simple,
You don’t need every colour,
To see the beauty in a life.