The icy ghost slithered into
Throbbing veins, and then the torn
Canvas of this blank white room
Exploded into crystal blue
Heaven’s vault, the winds blew fair
The sun was out, and I was there
To step upon the moist black earth
And breathe in the enchanting scent
Of a lone rose amidst the fields of green
Its scarlet petals weaving wild
Fevered dreams of manic red
From which many had before fled
Yet I approach with admiring stare
This rose whose petals turn away
To look instead at the tawny light
Of the morning sun, and reach on up
To bathe in warmth and kiss its rays
As it had done for countless days
The more I looked, the more I fell
For the velvet sheen and the distinct flare
Of perfect shapes, and upright poise
And even when I saw her thorns
Crass and bloodied, rough and worn
From battles, I can only say —
She is beautiful beyond compare.
But I trembled and the lukewarm ghost
Of a teardrop fell on her waiting leaf
For just then I realized
That all the love that now has swelled
Within me would of no moment be
For she is a rose — she has no use for me
Oh may I instead be the fertile earth!
To hold her high as she reaches up
For that to be, what should I lose?
All, but none that’s too important
For what use is humanity, then again?
I envy the earth, it feels no pain
Even if all petals turn away
From it to face the endless miles
To the burning sun — it is content
To hold her roots in his embrace
To nourish her throughout her days
To stand apart without parting ways
Then the icy ghost finally fades
Into oblivion, and the canvas prison
Is here once more, and there she stood
My flower with the dazzling red
Lips and ever-searching eyes
And I breathed as I realize —
She is no rose, she is not gone
I am no earth — I am but man
And though she may still seek the sun
I can be more — I’m not undone.
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