Ode to the Duchess of Malfi all woman are her (second position)

The cruelty of men placed her within a barbed wire cage,
But oh, how strong she stood so bold and so very brave;
unafraid, she kept her spirit, from the black hooked talon’s,
of a dark murder, that longed to scythe the night apart.

The bitterness of men mocked: as they cruelly fought her.
They placed a gnarled rope around her proud, noble neck;
defiantly she took what they gave, as she faced her monster,
while the cruelty she witnessed, just broke her fragile heart.

The fury of men spat and labelled her a raw harlot,
But they did not know of the power that she had deep within,
For she was honest, proud and defiant and so loud,
And the man that she loved, gave himself for her, without sound.

And oh Christ... how bloody brilliantly she still now sings!
With such an open blossoming spring, that now from shining tiers
Eternally wrestles our ears down here, so beautiful and so bright,
To eternally glisten as we listen,
as I see her forever rise with an ever diamond hew.

But Who is she?
She is the light,
she is the stain,
she is the song,
She is the refrain,
she is the humble,
the woken,
the bloody beautiful day.
She is the beauty,
the duty,
the body so wonderfully strong.
For she is all woman,
she is in all women,
and all women are seen in her.

for Alice, wherever she may be. xxx