Two Roses

Heirloom

roses side-by-side

flaunting fanciful frills

one crimson bud stares longingly

my turn

not yet

your flowering unfolds in time

for now you wait patient

breaking free  soon

keep hope

. . .

If my poetry aims to achieve anything,
it’s to deliver people from the limited ways
in which they see and feel.

—Jim Morrison

Camera in hand, I go searching for wonder. What’s blooming? Who’s singing in the trees? What unusual shapes will I find clinging to aged bark or hiding in the grass?

This time in my life doesn’t include travel to far-off places with opportunities to capture vast landscapes, azure oceans, or towering cathedrals. Instead, my eye focuses on what surrounds me, the obscure, the amazing, and sometimes the curious. 

Like tiny insects peeping through petals. Ordinarily, you or I would walk past them never noticing the ruffly blossoms much less, the minuscule ecosystem the blooms support.

I wonder how much life I have missed.

pink red buds blossom on a single branch with blue sky and limbs in the background. Text: Poetry centers the heart. by Kathryn LeRoy

. . .

And always—

Be kind. Be brave. Be you.

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Photo: Heirlooms © Kathryn LeRoy

Poem: A mirror cinquain, a variation of a Crapsey Cinquain