How an aroma of a scarlet petal contains the rapture of joy. How a single prick of thorn holds the agony of pain. How fleeting, even when cared for. How enduring in memory, when gone.
How Shakespeare denigrates it through Juliet’s “What’s in a name…” How Stephen King mystifies it as an icon of the Tower that Roland of Gilead seeks. How the orders for them fill up every Valentine’s Day.
How we fail to embrace the totality of what it symbolizes, even when we need it the most.
Rose Garden
the evident essence
of pleasure and pain
We long for its beauty
without paying its price
for Colleenโs 2019 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 138 #SynonymsOnly
and Real Toad’s Tuesday Platform: Moon Moments (imagined by Anmol(HA))
Frank J. Tassone 
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