Vengeance Dances in Her Mind

she is a woman touched by war // a poem written about the main character of one of my original works

they say her heart is hard as diamonds

that it is locked in an iron box

wrapped in a tangle of of thorns

and frozen over in sheets of ice

 

they say her mouth has forgotten how to smile

that her eyes no longer remember how to shine

that her face is an iron cast

 

they say the blood that pumps through her veins

is cold and blue

they say a heart of diamonds cannot feel love

nor pain

 

they say blood crusts beneath her fingernails

and that her will is hard as iron

they say her tongue is sharp as blades

and her wit cracks like a whip

 

they say she is cold

calculating

even cruel

she is ruthless, they whisper

never cross her

for your blood will stain the earth

and your bones will grind to dust beneath her heel

 

I watch her more often than I should

first in fear

then fascination

now I see her for what she is

�"and I would follow her to the ends of the earth

if she asked

(she won’t)

 

she is a woman touched by war

with the potential for so much more

I cannot hate her

cannot fear her

 

I tell you now

her heart was glass

now broken into shards

she gathered them up

at the price of her fingers

and locked them in an iron box

she turned the roses of love

into thorny brambles

and let winter come

 

from the ashes of what she was

she forged someone new

someone with iron in her veins

and blood on her lips

 

her tongue is sharp to keep her safe

her wit honed to keep her living

her face is an iron mask so her secrets are not betrayed

her eyes are not cold but shrouded in the shadows of those she has loved and lost

her fingers stained with her enemies blood

 

she is ruthless

but not to her allies

you, she would never harm

no�"

she would spill her own lifeblood

still red-hot and full of the love she’s tried to kill

and grind her heart�"

her bones�"

her very self into the dust

if it meant that no new shadows danced in her eyes

 

�"vengeance dances in her mind, l.m.

Author's Note

Poetry isn't my usual genre, and something I typically only write occasionally! If anyone has any tips for me, I'd greatly appreciate them. Thank you!