I, for one, am pleased with her restoration.
Let the experts paint in exact detail
The face of Christ in every other holy place.

This one she adored, and fretted over.
It was deteriorating as it moved through time.
No one was doing anything to stop it.

So in her tenderness toward
This fresco of the face of Christ,
She stepped forward to do what maybe she had
Never done in her life.
It may have even been from memory.

People are cruel.
If she had merely restored it,
They would have been amazed – a miracle –
And 80 years old!

Don’t fret, Cecilia.
Now he is even more yours.