veteran of loss

a lesson mourned & kept tight:
lady love is a foe one ought not provoke
& no heart is built to be iron or trite

she can taste of a fierce, great loss
even to those rare, champion folk
lady love is a force no one ought cross

harsh is a bed she has lain with consent
her names are like wind knowing every bent
her nature is whimsy, a fidgety child never content
no painter can hold her to capture her tragic torment

a scent heard in the air, then a sprite or a whore
her names & her passions are famous lust-lore
her heart has seen every shame-paved floor
love lingers where she was known: in widow & emptied drawer
she beats inside of every soul, she's a silent, familiar rapport

love is all kinds, a soldier & veteran of loss
be she a flame of passion or plastic, exterior gloss
love has toed every floor & known every dark door