Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SISTERS, by ROBERT FINCH


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SISTERS, by                    
First Line: There are two sisters, one is a rose
Last Line: Ribbon fades on the sapped stem.
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses; Sisters


There are two sisters, one is a rose,
And no one knows what the other is.
The first says go and the other goes
Or come and she comes, or that, or this,

And sometimes not a word is said,
Yet always the rose on her balcony
Smiles down in lace at the thin bread
And up in grace at the guests for tea.

Invisible fingers pour and pass,
Unerringly the curate glides
On invisible feet, while as through glass
The Visible Presence of Rose presides

In a hat of shadow, a dress of light,
A shawl let fall from the silver sport
Of weaving rain; the fragrant sight
Is ever and never the same in sort,

For Rose reblooms each day that blooms,
Each hour that opens on time's tree
Finds her unchanged and still she comes
A new rose to another tea.

What deft tool of delicate mettle
Daily remoulds the casual smooth
Coral of each imperial petal
Into this maxim of fadeless youth?

Declared unique, a rose as due
Receives a ribbon and a name.
The name dies with the rose. The blue
Ribbon fades on the sapped stem.





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