The Flowers: The Rose
Alphonse Mucha, 1898

carmine

and he thinks
he would know her now:
rose-petal sweet,
the passion of crimson,
she daunts in devouring the sun,
proud climb
from the ground to the light,
tenacity's bloom;
his fingers
caressing her thorns
the pain as she cuts
the welcome price
for what he has touched.

persistence

	A flower's
	intensity
	lingers.
	She is much
		like that.