Fade to gray

I notice in black-and-white photographs,
old ones of past weddings and family
or new ones taken with an artistic eye,
that it is the shades of gray which bring
the shape of the mother's hand,
the shadow of the dancing child,
the glimmer of light in the lover's eye
to what would otherwise be a flat print,
capturing the beloved
at that moment,
carrying him beyond the frame.