There was in her face,
in the contours of her
beauty lines
a past smoothing out
which I could see
would match
her older photographs.

The older her
only hinted at
that prior
state.

But I took my time
to look at her
now past 55
to see
in that older landscape
what my eye
sought
in her face at twenty and five..

Could not the face
before me
be seen
on its own terms?

Where is that beauty
line between
beauty and non-beauty?

Is it the tightness of the skin
the twinkle in the eye,
healthy look or
non-healthy look?

What's true is that
my own Western
eye
can only see age;
not nobility;

only TV screen beauty-
not maturity.

But you know
there are a myriad of exceptions;

children don't see age
the same way we do

nor does most of the world.
What is going on here?