Question

…nearly as many years as that girl lived…’ which girl is being referred here?​

Answer 1

Answer:

In The Photograph, it's a picture of her and her mother. Her mother is now dead.

In the photograph, the daughter was about 12 years old. So "that girl" (the one that exists in the photograph only) is 12 years old.

The mother has been dead for about 12 years.

So the mother has been dead for as long as the daugther had been alive at the time of that photograph.

Or as long as "that girl" lived.

But it's a poem, so there's more...

It's actually:

Now she’s has been dead nearly as many years.

[New line]

As that girl lived.

So, while what I said aboveis true, it also means "as" as in ""while" the daughter lived.

I mean, "all the years she's been dead, I've had to be alive suffering through the loss".

But the next lines are of silence silencing her.

So did she really live for the 12 years she's been alive since her mum died? Or did she die with her mother, but remain alive?

If so, then only "that girl" in the photo only remained alive in the form of that photo. Because soon after that, she and her smile died.

Explanation:

so She is the MOTHER