Self-Portrait of the Artist as a Model for Once

The parting image of many a Hitchcock picture

antiprotagonist sitting still as death

with empty visage staring rigidly outward

Such is my pinch-hit presentation to a class

more than eager to take me up on filling in

being not simply their studio instructor

But a natural subject for attempted portrayal

having that already exaggerated utility

a Gilbertian caricature of a face

While displaying to them this aspect of myself

I contemplate another previously overlooked

when I pursued my own studies à la Narcissus

Transferring from mirror to sketchbook or canvas

that schismatic face gazing back at mine

and keeping it carefully self-contained

Now having been grounded in the basics

my dozen students reflectively shadowbox

me in on their charcoal-covered newsprint

And I imparting them mastery by withdrawing mine

film over my focal point to avoid transfixion

by any of four-and-twenty piebald eyes

For one's soul can be stolen through duplicity

or even by a mere mirror upon the wall

(such was the unmistaken Aboriginal view)

Turn the artful loose and will they not turn upon you?

let them take away your likeness and how long untaken

can the site of your inherent birthright remain?