Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PALE ROSE, by ESTHER RUSSELL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PALE ROSE, by                    
First Line: You laughed uncertainly
Last Line: Knowing you wanted red roses again.
Subject(s): Affliction; Flowers; Love - Loss Of; Man-woman Relationships; Roses; Male-female Relations


You laughed uncertainly,
Then smiled and goaded me
To further angry scorn ...
And all the petals from the rose were torn ...
"Don't taunt me so; you know
As well as I, good-bye
Cannot be said and then recalled
Without its aftermath of pain.
You cannot tear the petals from a rose
And put them on again."

Another small and almost frightened laugh,
As though you did not care!
A laugh—half-threat, half-dare—
And, underneath it all, a hint
That it might hurt to tear
Such smooth, soft petals from a rose
Already roughly blown,
A rose about to pale in wonder
That the red had flown.
My heart did not break ... then.
It happened after the spring thaw
I passed your rose-wrecked garden and I saw
Your proud, gold head bent, humbly bare,
Your whitened fingers seeking there,
Groping for rose petals on the damp ground,
Searching for something that could not be found.

My heart broke ... then ...
Knowing you wanted red roses again.





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