Love and war lay tangled together, laughed at
but the punishment was a failure
being bare before them brought her no shame,
she was the goddess of beauty
seeing her marriage dissolve brought her no pain,
she was goddess of love, not matrimony
She didn’t hate her husband because he was ugly
but he demanded her hand and expected fidelity
only choosing her because others lusted
and fought over her frequently
But Ares didn’t hesitate to remember
that love finds the spot where it hurts and adds pressure
she was older than the others and wilder
finally, someone who matched him in power
he saw the parts of her nobody knew
she had begun as goddess of war
and would always be the more violent of the two
