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