They gawk and gaze and fawn over her,

A famous face, never changing,

They click a million pictures, fly miles to see her,

And she just stares back, frozen in time.

 

She has stories and odes written to her,

There is no one who knows not her name,

She is in books, in songs, in our history,

Yet, she gives away nothing, making people wonder.

 

We speak her name,

Yet, her story remains elusive,

Was she royalty, a peasant,

Or a former lover?

 

She says nothing, sits demure in her frame,

Simple, innocent, a secret, an enigma,

The only clue –

a mysterious smile.

 

-Prachi S