She rises and sets with the sun, her brightness

Second only to the moon. The one 

Woman among the nine – or eight if you 

Consider size –  born to bear life, like Earth.

The wings of Icarus fell like the borrowed 

Feathers they were; the body of Venus tells 

The story of every woman who ventures

Too near the light, every blasted rock testament

To the fierce and fiery fight. Like every

Woman’s skin scorched and blighted, Venus’s

Face frights the timid-sighted. For pity

Of man’s eyes, a mantle drapes her livid scars

And so she blazes briefly in the skies, defying

Sun and moon, in a sisterhood of stars.