The Snap Shot

'Exactly 80 years after their execution by Bolshevicks in Ipatiev house, on July 17 of 1998, the last Czar of Russia and his family were buried in the crypt of St Petersburg's St Peter and Paul Cathedral. Addressing the burial ceremony, President Boris Yeltsin described the murder of the Romanovs as one of the most shameful pages in Russian history and urged Russians to close a 'bloody century' with repentance.' The photographer’s assistants bring two chairs into the room These are for Alexei and Alix, Everyone else stands. There are eleven in the line-up Not counting the family dog. It’s an official snapshot The photographer arranges them into a family group The better to capture the essence of the subjects. The angle is all-important in such matters The parents, Nikki and Alix, are partially exposed As being the photographer’s fixed focus He will catch their living likeness It is a powerful composition It will be tricky to develop The frame is perfect The children need no ambient lighting The tone of their skin is one of wintry transparency Though the cook, the maid, the valet and the doctor May fade in the darkroom of history Olga is short and blonde, snub nosed and serious Tatiana is tall and slim, a grey eyed pianist Marie is always in love with some boy or other Little Alexei’s a piner, in his sailor suit Anastasia’s the imp, the tomboy, the clown of the clan Smoking fags on the sly, clanging the balalaika The photographer, having arranged them, Confesses the snap shot’s a ruse For ease of execution. The photographer’s assistants pull their weapons Alix crosses herself. Guns flash. Like Faberge eggs, the fallen princesses Hold hidden treasures. Jewels sewn into corsets Across the floor of a Siberian cell, Still life, its negatives drying.