The Roses Died
The roses died
Upon the stem
As autumn blew his breath
They learned too late
The wise advice
Don’t bloom
or it means death
©2020 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved
Where Are the Friends?
dVerse MTB: Ubi Sunt and that Where, Oh Where? And our MTB prompt today is simply to use this Ubi Sunt motif in your poetry as such: title your poem with the question – where are the/they… use the questioning within your poem, even with repetition DO NOT ANSWER it though – the questioning is rhetorical employ concepts of mortality, the transience of life, a sense of nostalgia ubi sunt is a term meaning "where are they??" taken from the Latin phrase "ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt," or "where are those who were before us?" Where are the friends who promised forever? Who vowed a cradle to grave? Where are the sisters who pricked their thumbs? Who undying kinship gave? Have they forgotten those carefree days? Broken our childhood pact? Have they forgotten we were as one? Ignoring our solemn act? Where are the friends we used to know? Those we held so dear? Where are the ones on whose sides we stood? W...
I really love this one. It sounds like a circle of life warning. I can't say that I don't understand the rose. I suspect that they would choose to bloom, even if they knew exactly what frostiness the future would bring.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your poem brought to mind a photo and poem I shared on Instagram yesterday (autumn vibes everywhere, it seems): https://www.instagram.com/p/CH3PlEilruG/
Thank you. I do love how you put it there, " fall and spring dancing in circles."
DeletePerhaps if Autumn were a she, not a he .... rose would join the sisterhood and bloom? Cheers.
ReplyDeleteMight be. I see autumn and winter as masculine. Well, winter is "Old Man Winter" and "Jack Frost" comes, so that's for sure!
DeleteSpring is Easter, and that, of course, is Astarte.
Plus, Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem, Spring, ends,
"April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers."
and I picture a flower festooned woman!
Summer? I'm not sure. As a Leo, albeit a poor one (I hate the limelight, I just like to be right), I still see a male lion, but that's probably just due to images in books etc.
Ouch. A short punch of reality. Yet, blooming seems worth it.
ReplyDeleteIt tried, plus it's quite pretty like that.
DeleteHmmm, how thought-provoking. But not to bloom would mean no life at all.
ReplyDeleteVery true.
DeleteA short but a few magnificent moments or the longevity of a prickly pear cactus....Pondering !
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of ponder! Although cactus have some of the more magnificent flowers there are, so that would confuse things.
DeleteDo what you can when you can. Let the rose bloom to it's hearts content it knows winter is coming.
ReplyDeletePlants and animals other than human do sense the changes. We don't seem to, so should watch them.
DeleteWOW! What lovely words speaking of a profound truth. Sometimes, one needs to accept and just lie low.
ReplyDeleteLoved this. :-)
Thank you so very much.
DeleteI think the rose knows it's job is to bloom gloriously, then drop its petals for a potpouri to be enjoyed until Spring when it's time to bud once more.
ReplyDeleteHa! Great idea!
DeleteAn autumn rose is always a bit of a gamble...
ReplyDeleteIt sure is.
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