The old doe wanted to be witnessed in pain for eternity. Cut and bandaged and then cut up again. Fine, they said. We’ll see how you fare. They took her into the sterile room and covered her in dirt. They smothered her in praise. They pulled out her teeth and replaced them with all gold caps over steel rod implants. They propped her up on an ancestor’s grave and told her to be still as a stone.

The stone wanted to be witnessed for eternity. Carved as it was. Like a great mysterious henge. But it was clear who placed her there. And that wasn’t enough. No one wants to see that which they already see every day in the mirror. Tricked out and suffering. Cut up for no one. Those teeth shone in the night for no one. When she bore them at the moon.