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Out of the side street he emerges
The fog obscuring the street sign
That read South Audley Street
The Dorchester lit like a luxury liner
Towering behind him, a grand edifice
The man with the wide circumference,
Large head capped by a fedora,
Moves with grace through the dark Mayfair streets.
From the High Commission, the shorter, dapper man
Steps outside, buttoning up his coat
Tightening the cravat round his neck
Treading with care on the icy pavement
The beret keeping his head warm
The two men looming into view,
Before converging, stopping to acknowledge
A nod and a smile ensue
On a foggy street, a moment of courtesy
The briefest of brief encounter
Before the fedora man disappears
Melting like an iceberg in the night
The smaller man temporarily frozen;
The apparition of a Hollywood legend before him,
A true noir king, traversing the dark streets of London
Time suspended; silver screen meeting earthly realism.
Two men: a zeitgeist rendezvous
No encore, no epilogue; just the one act
A surreal, revelatory, temporal mise-en-scene
Wordless, silent; both men long since gone. |
