Poetry of lovers, essentially (6)

I believe the answer is:

verses

'poetry' is the definition.
(lines of poetry)

'of lovers essentially' is the wordplay.
'of' indicates the answer is hidden within the clue.
'VERSES' can be found hidden inside 'lovers essentially'.

(Other definitions for verses that I've seen before include "Parts of a poem" , "Stanzas" , "Sections of poetry" , "Parts of a song" , "Poetic sections" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.

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