I have a rosebush in the back garden – a companion for the 40 years since moving to the house in Totnes, (Devon, England). In July 2022, the rosebush flowered into a glorious display of pink petals. Gradually, this feast of colour faded with the petals slowly dying leaving only small, tattered, shrunken reminders of what was.

Yet two roses remained intimately at the top of the bush. I took a photograph of the rosebush and wrote a poem. Despite its lofty position, these two roses remain subjected to change and dissolution. 

What arises, stay and passes. Let us never forget.

A rose remains tender and beautiful but temporary.

THE FADING OF THE PINK ROSES

All has faded and worn-out sigh.
Petals yellow’d from a long day.
Thorns remain and yet know not why
All else gone, nothing more to say.

A look around and skies above
Above it all, with heads held proud
A thing of beauty, thing of love,
No words can land upon the crowd.

New day comes and petals succumb.
Aloof and yet to change endowed
A tender state, a claim atop
Their fall assured, their time has come.

Deep in earth, high in sky, signs show,
The season fades and starts anew,
A yearning makes its way to grow,
Roses reveal what’s now on view.