A Wise Nymph

I found today The Mountain Nymph. How is it that the people of yesteryear had so much more in their faces, in their eyes and mouths, than I see around me today? I have been in the mall and at Starbucks for hours, just watching people, yet it is seldom indeed that I have seen such a look of having suffered. And yet, isn't she beautiful? Her eyes are not dead. They are wise. If she smiled, you would know that there was really something to be glad for. She knew about life, and about pain I am sure. Yet - her eyes are not dead; not nearly so dead as those that I saw staring out yesterday from the smiling face of a woman at Starbucks.