Shifting the roses

        Shifting the roses

        thorns aside 

        there were plenty in the wind anyway.

        I got seven bushes out

        not feeling my fingers for the cold.

        They say you can't kill a rose

        only with kindness

        and perhaps my careful spade

        trying to contain too much.

        Sentimental me

        I want to hold, hope, for each one.

        Another summer

        to cut and vase

        the way they teach a room to reach

        beyond its walls, and us

        firming with my foot each pruned plant

        moving them from a cold fenced corner

        to friendly sun

                                and the possibility of love.

 These poems are from my new collection IN THE APRICOT DARKNESS (view the cover and contents below in my recent posts). They are now being published individually, daily under 'recent posts' on my blog and will be available shortly as an eBook that can be read online or downloaded for free.