EXPOSURE

Posted by Admin on 1 February 2009, 12:00 am

How long before I hear again
that G-string air by Bach,
and not recall the tragic scene –
those mourning Monegasques
in Monaco’s white fans – and see
once more a Prince’s grief,
enhanced by being half-controlled –
recall his shoulders, bowed, his head
unraised, on which unkindly age
had made a mark as premature
as that dread fate which widowed him,
a man yet in his prime?
How long before I hear unmoved
Franz Haydn’s sad adagio played,
and not relive that sun-mocked, trist,
September day – hear notes which touched
emotion’s fount and drew from eyes
accustomed to a disciplined
restraint as intermittent tear?
How long before I quite forget
that sorrow which, though shared
to some degree, I thought too deep
for public exhibition – for
a camera’s all-seeing but
unfeeling and relentless eye?