She turns her head sideways
to reveal beneath the lunar landscape
a beauty so deeply buried that
archaeologists brush at it
delicately, holding their breath.
Care driven like dirt into the seams
with such brutal force
that you would weep to see it.

Among the broken stones of cheeks and bones
is etched the hieroglyphic evidence
of a girl who lost her way in life and left
a legacy so steeped in disappointment
that its light cannot be seen until
we dip our brush in idle thought
and peel away the grime.