Between one broken beat and the thunder of the next

Her heart swings wide like a old door on rusted hinges

A peek inside reveals a crisscross network of scars

half healed wounds and the faint trace of tomorrow's tears

Soft warm throbbing testament to a life lived

Scars on top of scars like lines drawn on a map

Telling a tale of a battlefield littered with hope and despair

Echos of courage heard in the thump of her next campaign

Sobs like trumpets sounding the next charge

How bravely her banners wave when love rages

Each slash a sword thrust

Each seeping wound a embedded arrow

Each dark crevasse where a bomb struck

Each blemish a reminder of the wars she fought

Each rattle of breath a small shrouded death

Every failure

Every flaw

Every imperfection

Every rejection

written on the torn bloody beating canvas of her heart

A bold valiant beautiful thing of frailty and steele

A declaration hung with a welcome sign waiting the next mortar round