You STAYED

You STAYED

The Season past.

You have held your color.

But why, what has led you
to hold on?

Maybe you do not know.

Are you ripening?

You have tasted the warmth
of summer.

Here you are in winter’s chill.

There is an elegance
that graces your frozen petals.

What will become of you?
One of your petals
NOW has let go…
drifting upward
yes, a wisp of cold
air lofting a red velvet blanket

from your bud.

Is this the pattern?
Will another and another
be gone, taken
leaving the simple
skeleton of your stem?

Some One
holds your soft fragrance.
Pierced by your thorns, they could
never turn away.

You have shared
yourself—simply by being.

Even after this season gone,
the beauty that is you

LIVES On.