Stone Queen

She was implacable. Behind those sealed lips she imprisoned potential. An unknowable future straining against the leash fixed on the tip of her tongue - a ball of naivety rolling up a hill towards an unseen cliff never to be traversed. 

The war could not be won, but the thought of even the most insignificant victories along the eternal path of battle inspired him to chip away at the stone queen. 

As a determined drop digs a hole through rock he would fight without relent, without dreams of self-preservation, and break himself against the immovable façade. He would inevitably sacrifice all, despite knowing the gains were minuscule.  He would gaze upon his coming demise, smile at the angel of death, raise his hammer for another blow, and stubbornly persist...

A heroic effort without fame would be worth it all the same, if upon her pallid lips a hairline crack would appear, and the dust that settled where her eyes should be produced a single tear.