Roses Only

You do not seem to realize that beauty is a liability rather

  than

an asset - that in view of the fact that spirit creates form

  we are justified in supposing

  that you must have brains. For you, a symbol of the

  unit, stiff and sharp,

conscious of surpassing by dint of native superiority and

  liking for everything

self-dependent, anything an

ambitious civilization might produce: for you, unaided, to

  attempt through sheer

  reserve,  to confuse  presumptions  resulting  from

  observation, is idle. You cannot make us

  think you  a delightful happen-so. But rose, if you are

  brilliant, it

is not because your petals are the without-which-nothing

  of pre-eminence. Would you not, minus

thorns, be a what-is-this, a mere

perculiarity?  They are not proof against  a  worm, the

  elements, or mildew;

but what about the predatory hand? What is brilliance

  without co-ordination? Guarding the

  infinitesimal pieces of your mind, compelling audience to

the remark that it is better to be forgotten than to be re-

  membered too violently,

your thorns are the best part of you.

This poem was typed in the form that the poet used. The space and line breaks make for interesting pauses, and add to the tension of the final line.