Marsha Hughes Poet Free verse

Fortress

She was a fortress
Rock solid, determined
To stand strong 
Against any attack
But she turned the music up
While her king was in his counting house
It was far too loud
She danced on her walls
Flaunted herself, taunted
Received attention, even unwanted
Aware and unaware of her power

He was a fierce and beautiful warrior
Who appeared without warning
And from an unnatural height
Dropped word bombs
To explode her heart
And  with her head
He shot arrows of love in many tongues
Until her walls began to crack 
She let his fire seep in 
And penetrate her
It lit her up and reminded her
Of how cold and lonely it could be
Within her walls
She let herself burn out of control
And almost burned down her entire kingdom

Meanwhile
He was waging his own war
In his head
She, his conquest
Was a just a side attraction
A diversion to avert his attention
An escape from the anguish
Of losing his queen
His castle in ruins, his heart shattered

Winning her love, 
Was not enough
To reignite his soul

From the warmth of her walls
She felt him retreating
Taking with him his weapons, his army of words
His declarations of love 
She could no longer see his flames
Only darkness
Where his love once lived

Alone, abandoned, cold 
She calculated and assessed 
What remained from the rubble of his (brief) love
She saw it was not too late for her
She looked inside her heart
Saw her worth
And decided to save herself 
To recruit the troops, line them up, do the work,
Put Humpty Dumpty’s wall back together again
Re-build it wider, taller, reinforce it with steel
And turn the music down

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