The icy ghost slithered into

Throbbing veins, and then the torn

Canvas of this blank white room

Exploded into crystal blue

Heaven’s vault, the winds blew fair

The sun was out, and I was there

To step upon the moist black earth

And breathe in the enchanting scent

Of a lone rose amidst the fields of green

Its scarlet petals weaving wild

Fevered dreams of manic red

From which many had before fled

Yet I approach with admiring stare

This rose whose petals turn away

To look instead at the tawny light

Of the morning sun, and reach on up

To bathe in warmth and kiss its rays

As it had done for countless days

The more I looked, the more I fell

For the velvet sheen and the distinct flare

Of perfect shapes, and upright poise

And even when I saw her thorns

Crass and bloodied, rough and worn

From battles, I can only say —

She is beautiful beyond compare.

But I trembled and the lukewarm ghost

Of a teardrop fell on her waiting leaf

For just then I realized

That all the love that now has swelled

Within me would of no moment be

For she is a rose — she has no use for me

Oh may I instead be the fertile earth!

To hold her high as she reaches up

For that to be, what should I lose?

All, but none that’s too important

For what use is humanity, then again?

I envy the earth, it feels no pain

Even if all petals turn away

From it to face the endless miles

To the burning sun — it is content

To hold her roots in his embrace

To nourish her throughout her days

To stand apart without parting ways

Then the icy ghost finally fades

Into oblivion, and the canvas prison

Is here once more, and there she stood

My flower with the dazzling red

Lips and ever-searching eyes

And I breathed as I realize —

She is no rose, she is not gone

I am no earth — I am but man

And though she may still seek the sun

I can be more — I’m not undone.