by Calli Miller

Created on: October 29, 2008

Ten Ways to Look at a Rose

I: Lavender-Lilac
Playing God, she formed a life
From the space between bodies;
And now, chest heaving, this strange rose has
Arrested her heart at first sight.

II: Orange
Grow sunflower, my sunflower
Your trophies I need not, with you my prize,
But bloom into the rose that you must be.

III: Blushing Pink
What devoted juvenile ardor
Can end in anything

But disappointed dewdrops?

IV: Yellow
In the hours of stars, she is awake
Tending to her garden of rose-friends.

V: Peach
Her room is now empty, left with
Memories of young life,
For she would bloom for a man
Now that her mother is alone;
No fool, though, the old rose has eyes
It is love.

VI: White
I love you
I love you not
I love you
I love you not
I love you;
A flower my matchmaker be,
Second only to my heart;
I do.

VII: Dark Pink
So shines the sun in the sky,
So pours the rain from the heavens,
And though separated, we two are roses:
Beautiful and content.

VIII: Black
Born from his warm grave
Was a black rose
Blemished but alive,
As is my stubborn soul.

IX: Amethyst
A year has passed,
Though the beginning lingers strongest,
When we were young and free,
Our roots unsettled, but not torn.

X: Red
So seeps the blood from this rose
As regret spills onto the floor, but:
I have loved, as thorn and as flower.

Learn more about this author, Calli Miller.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.