Ruined Beauty   If beauty paints a picture, then ruined beauty tells a story — the intricacies are everything, like the unspooling footage   of a movie — only when the reels are empty, the houselights on, does the brutal and beautiful truth remain, revealed   and undeniable. The sight of Jesus on the cross moved millions, turned the wheels of history — death exacting its fees.     © Michael Fleming Brattleboro, Vermont May 2019