Perfect Pose

Upon Charles Bridge he's frozen in a gesture,

Looks like he's waiting for a moment to arrive,

Some special currency to connect him to the zeitgeist...

Snakes alive!

He's traipsed around the towns, the landmarks of Old Europe,

Looking to link between the present and the past

And here at last he feels ghosts crowding in around him

For the photograph.

All that he wants to be

An image of mystery;

A backdrop, a profile, a choice location,

Feeding his imagination.

Instead of memories to hold him in the game

He'd rather wrap time's frame around him.

No need for memories, they all feel much the same,

He'd rather stay in character.

A centre spread in a paper,

An unpicked thread in a magazine.

He's lost himself in being here so often.

Though life's got harder as the focus softened.

He's made his only purpose the pursuit

Of posing for the perfect photograph.

Out of shot the light's bleeding

And time comes apart at the seams.

He'll disappear, it's nearly time,

The shutter's opening.

And now exposure's come,

Chiaroscuro

And he's all transparency in the aperture,

Gone to the ghosts.

They'll hold him close,

Metamorphosed

In the perfect pose.