Song is describing a print of a scene where a woman is putting on makeup and grooming herself. The fact that he is looking at a picture is important because it is a moment frozen in time. The poem is about the transitory nature of beauty, the objectification of women and what women go through to sustain beauty. The picture freezes this moment. In reality, beauty does not last. The line “she is about to paint herself” literally illustrates that she is creating beauty. It is fake. It is a mask she must routinely reapply because that is the role she’s been given.

Morning begins the ritual

wheel...

(The entire section contains 325 words.)