Almost Alive

I saw Grandma smiling

In a dress from '41

Grandpa by a Chevy

Squinting in the sun

The picture started moving

Like dust inside a beam

And I was standing somewhere

Between awake and dream

I know it ain't real

But it still knows where to hurt

Old pictures don't breathe

But they got close tonight

Black and white went moving

Under soft blue light

It wasn't them

But damn, it was close

Almost alive

And hard to let go

Mom in the kitchen

Dad out in the drive

Everybody younger

Everybody still alive

I could hear the screen door

I could smell supper on the stove

I could almost ask the questions

I was too young then to know

Time don't give back nothing

But it sure knows how to tease

Old pictures don't breathe

But they got close tonight

Black and white went moving

Under soft blue light

It wasn't them

But damn, it was close

Almost alive

And hard to let go

Maybe I don't want forever

Maybe one more look would do

One more kitchen laughing

One more room I still knew

I ain't trying to raise the dead

I know gone is gone

But memories get cruel sometimes

When they almost carry on

Old pictures don't breathe

But they got close tonight

I watched a whole lost lifetime

Wake up in the light

It wasn't them

But Lord, it was close

Close enough to hold me

Then leave me letting go

The past ain't living

But it reached through time

For one aching moment

It was almost alive