Pompeii Freeze

Poem in response to seeing the body casts of Pompeii.
Contorted bodies frozen in time
as if Medusa cast her spell
of stone.
A
last
embrace,
a curled up child,
a fist, clenched in anguish
Mouths open, but wailing no more.
Flash-cooked in volcanic gas and buried in ash.
Body forms preserved, cavities poured with plaster of Paris.
A cast of a man, half-sitting catches the morning sun, sending shivers down my spine.
Is he waking?
or simply taking his time?