Women Defending Castle with Bow and Crossbow
        after an illuminated manuscript
        by Walter de Milemete, 1326-1327

Only posies? Without arrows—
just flowers—I wonder.
One at the barbican stows
a posy between her thumb and finger;
a crossbow, aimed from the apse,
is empty. Midway, a woman steadies
a blossom with her hand, another grasps
a bunch by the stems, ready
to fling them over the parapet.
Even gold petals adorn
the red background. Some interpret
this as a woman's greatest weapon
is love. But once a heart's deployed
to battle, one can't call it back to bed.

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Copyright © 2015 Christine Stewart-Nuñez All rights reserved
from Cherry Tree
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission