Crackling Projectors

Crackling Projectors

Celluloid lies turning sour.
It will not be long now
Before the image archive fades
And reels disappear.

Who did not enjoy watching them?
Take Charlie Chaplin with his antics,
Or Stan fooling Ollie!

But who labored so hard
For the celluloid?

Those marvelous adventures,
That rustling, that faint scratching.
Who does not carry those images in mind
And believe in their glow?

Yet never before has it stood
Before such blazing heat—
The celluloid.

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