Roses

Could there be a cure for 

roses? For the way they 

make you weak when they 

are near. For the way they draw 

you and call you to them and 

hold you in their spell.

Tiny, yet with such great 

strength, they keep you 

in a gaze worthy of

a mountain range behind 

the bay with a setting sun.

They imprison you with 

rapturous chains.

It is timeless when you are 

with the roses. A petal 

falls one frame at a time - 

dragging your heart 

to the dirt with it.

For a minute, it lies there... 

until it is called back 

to the flowers; to the stems.

Where did they get such power?

They could fell and empire, 

and no one could stop them.

Somehow, when you come to, 

you hold their fragrance deep inside.

You look about to see what has changed - 

if things have happened - how much time 

has passed. The roses erase everything 

for you; everything but you and them.

Erase everything until you become one.

Merger. And then you are free.

Dissolving is the cure.

13 December 1995