A sword was tattooed along her spine
The word Brave branded the back of her neck
Courage etched on the inside of her right wrist
Strength could be found written on her left
She gripped her little boy’s hand
Clutched her baby girl closer to her chest
Her eyes never left the gazes of strangers
Silently braced herself for the long trip ahead
Her body was Rome
And every man she met was Nero
Constantly burning her down in their grandeur
Leaving her to slowly rebuild from the rubble
Each of the fathers left her
The way they came in
The front door
Not even leaving a forwarding address
She changed her number
So the first one couldn’t solicit her pity
She moved to a different town
So the second couldn’t infest her doorway with his shadow
Relationships had become war
Battling over the division of her body
Men were eager to seize the area below the waist
Taking her heart and soul as hostage
Her emotions were casualties
Happiness, love, trust slaughtered, hung upon the barbed conversations
Sadness vultured and scavenged their corpses
While rage and fear made ground upon the battlefield of her body
Standing toward the horizon
She looks in the eyes of her children for hope
Weakness, vulnerability threatening to shatter her resolve
Finding in strength in their kisses every night
Determination to survive, to be strong for she held their universe upon her shoulder
She told me she knew how Atlas felt
Slumped under the pressure to persevere
But as I watch them play during the day, sleep at night
I feel a peace that I have chased for so long in a few fleeting men
In the end, she told me
Maybe I wasn’t meant to be a lover or a wife
Maybe I was just supposed to be a mother
And all those men mini trials before obtain the utopia I find in my children’s smiles