Expression (Poetry)

What was it she was thinking as the shutter clicked
and the flash gun fired? The moment was transfixed —
the camera caught a fleeting thought
and pinned it down
and it is here — expressed in parted lips
half-mouthing vague concerns, and eyes blinked over-wide,
brows inching towards drawn, a hint of frown
and something else less obvious — a shadow thinly clouds
a sunny mood, freezes, part-subdued.

All of her attention’s on a spot just out of shot,
her gaze could be interpreted
as close to wistful, almost yearning,
the catchlights in black pupils bright as stars,
chin lifted and that neck, so slender-smooth,
stretched out, prepared perhaps for instant flight,
and just discernible, a thread of apprehension
gathers up thought’s fraying edge — suggests
an underlying sorrow, grainy, flecked,
inhabits her and bleeds its solitude.