THE PETAL:

Spring´s newly furled bud, cruelly cut, beribboned & bunched,

 Suffocating & fisted, in new-father´s sweaty hand, tightly crunched,

Awaiting the announced mewls, the flowers nervously fingered,

Whilst earth-mother, in the grips of ancient birthing, sorely lingered.

And as the new babe arrives swathed in briny tears & volcanic squalls,

Upon the over-paced hospital corridor floor, a new unfurled petal falls.

Summer´s daisy-chain, petal by mute petal, plucked in love & silent pain,

Dripped candle-wax upon table-cloth of posy-vase & proposed love insane,

The tossed bridal bouquet, missing the hopeful, grasping, waiting hands,

Falling upon the dust of all those future hopes, dreams & well laid plans,

Honeysuckle, jasmine, orange-blossom, perfumed, virginal & white,

In the dim church, crushed fragile petal lies, all alone on wedding night.

Autumns, birthdays & anniversaries, rush past, day by frittering day,

Acknowledged by fragrant bouquets, bunches, posies & pretty nose-gays,

Ancient rites on lakes & flowing rivers, deep wells, & sacred biblical seas,

Where wrenched blooms are tossed upon the waves & carried by the breeze,

Within the prayers to God, each flower & its soul, carried on silent floral notes,

And when the devoted leave, the lonely petal stays behind & sadly bobs & floats.

Winter sermon delivered from those left behind, the sad & the bereaved,

The wreath placed upon the coffin, from loved-ones & the earth bequeathed,

As life ends & winter comes, the blooms & their soft gentle petals gone,

Now ice lies thick upon the hard ground, where once the sun had shone,

And in the end, upon the tomb of life´s last act, lying in soft repose,

Lay gently & forgotten by all, the single petal of a red velvet rose.