Margaret Atwood - This is a Photograph of Me lyrics

It was taken some time ago
At first it seems to be a smeared
Print: blurred lines and grey flecks
Blended with the paper

Then, as you scan
It, you see in the left hand corner
A thing that is like a branch: part of a tree
(balsam or spruce) emerging
And, to the right, halfway up
What ought to be a gentle
Slope, a small frame house
In the background there is a lake
And beyond that, some low hills

(The photograph was taken
The day after I drowned

I am in the lake, in the center
Of the picture, just under the surface

It is difficult to say where
Precisely, or to say
How large or small I am: The effect of water
On light is a distortion

But if you look long enough, eventually
You will be able to see me)