over the bridge
over the fast-flowing river of indistinct cars
coming and going, seemingly carried by some unseen current,
seemingly unaware or out of control of their journey or their destination
seeing their world minimised in a familiar cage
of leather seats, faux-wooden panelling
and bright plastic buttons.

in the white noise of traffic and dawn
silence asserts itself confidently on the bridge
standing high above the express way
it holds a magnanimous throne.

yes, silence on the bridge and a silhouette,
stick-like and still,
it gives the impression of timelessness –
of some non-temporal existence,
unconnected to the movement around it
that is constant and eternal.

the only sign of solidity it shows
is the long shadow cast backwards
streaming away from the rays of the low sun to the east.

at once a giant and a rag doll,
at once dark shadow and brightly lit,
at once a sharp outline, a figure of vitruvian precision
and a monster shaped entirely from recycled television static –
at once the sun and moon occupy the same sky.

the sillhoutte shrugs
on the bridge.  

-unknown

-

denouement  

(n.)  The resolution of a mystery.