Ceremony

A street
Soundless feet on the surface of the road
Eyes
And the small, slow swaying of thick arms
A black shape in the night
Cut out of the darkness when beneath a streetlight
A surface of moving shadows

A door
Then the room
Another door
Hall laid with parquetry
Frames on the wall
Images of nature and human form
Soundless feet
Door after door flanking the hall
The shape moves

Emerging from the tree-line
A figure with a basket clutched in hand and at rest against the hip
In the clearing a large black man-shape
Still
Staring at the figure
Two blue discs for eyes
The sound of leaves dancing across the grass in the wind
It blinks
The discs slowly disappearing
A black shape
Then they appear again

Windows pass on one side
Mannequins on display
Then in one window a child standing
A woollen cord tied loosely about her wrist
Drooping down and then lifting again to the wrist of a mannequin
The child watches the shape as it passes
Panning her head

In the corner of the room
Hidden in shadow
The room filled with the blue glare of the television
The sound of human dialogue
The door opens
A woman enters
Approaches the television
Raises her arm
Hand beginning at the edge of the light and moving slowly along the top
The light disappears
The voices silent
Stillness
She stands
Then turns towards the door

On the deck above I can hear the footfalls
A dull thudding
Slow
Regular
As the weight shifts along the frame the odd plank groans slightly
Pause
I feel the frame sway
Pause
And sway again
Then footfalls
The clink of the iron ring
Creak of the hatch
Slow, dull steps on the stairs
The creak of the door
And when he enters, the candle slowly ignites
Its perfect image duplicated in the mirror
I know that I am seen

An office
Empty
The hum and pale glow of emergency exit lighting

Then a classroom
A pin-board on the rear wall
Photographs pinned to it
Turn to the side
The pale light of false-dawn visible through a jagged and circular hole in the wall
The shape moves towards it
Reaches down to the broken edge
Clasps with the hand
Lowers himself down
Grasps at the protruding objects along the wall
Moving down to street level
Turn
The same lit sky
Step
And again step