I have a rose.
It’s really much too late
For roses.
I brought her inside…
This elegant late bloomer.
She unfolds slowly.
Her silken petals shrivel …
Even as she opens.
So delicate…
She has the velvet skin
Of old women.
Her perfume …
Powerful…heady…
Sweet as only a rose can be,
Fills the room.
Her fragrance
Diminishes not.
It’s been a week.
This ancient elder Rose
Makes known her essence…
Declares herself.
With stately measured pace
She bestows her gifts.
– jml (1998)
