Ninety-Seventh Rose
Yes, my arms have
held her.
Yes, my eyes have
lingered on her
form.
Yes, my thoughts
have spiraled
up and down
the length and yes,
the shapeliness
of her.
Yes, I forsook
every other blossom
and chose
the rose.
Ninety-Eighth Rose
Will you marry me?
Someday when we
are old
and no one asks
or seeks to know
when we began or
how long we’ve
known or how
good we go together?
Will you be
that part of me
that gives me
what I am and
wants to be?
When every rose awaits
your answer and
whispers you must
answer yes,
will you marry me?
Ninety-Ninth Rose
When I make
love to you,
I honor every love
ever made or
every lover who
in true confession
of a life for which
willingly life is given,
forfeits all treasures
of God’s heaven
in exchange.
When I make love
to you I want
more than anything
to be not so much
fulfilled as to
fulfill you and
keep that promise
which
God made me
make when He gave
me life.
“Promise you will make
someone glad.” I pray
when I make love to
you that promise is fulfilled.
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One Hundreth Rose
Our children will
be the lovers who
come after us,
who look upon
our souls so
closely grown
they merge in one new
everlasting bloom.
Here, our children
find us, the
parents of their love,
two roses become
one.
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