Poetry (after inspiration from Rives)

Red Rose
By: Gowri Nadmichettu
May 4th, 2010

Red roses represent love,
they say,
red roses represent undying, romantic love -
if someone gave me a red rose
I'd be thrilled
but only if it came with a chunk of earth
adhered to its roots
because a red rose only grows
with a bit of terrain to its claim
so you should probably hand me my red rose in a pot
cut it and it will rot
wither away and lose its living color
carry its desiccated seeds away to another
yeah, so I'd like a pot with my red rose
filled with soil and rich in whatever it takes
to keep that red rose alive
making sure it won't wilt with with some new gust
or lose each fragrant petal
to some new-found lust.
I'd like a pot with my red rose
so that I can water it affectionately everyday
instead of placing it in a vase with one careless fill
and merely hope that its charm won't go away.
and another thing:
don't strip that rose of its thorns
because each spike it sprouts
and each time it shears
someone's skin and causes some tears
that stem only gets tougher, more resilient
and those petals only stay abloom
for longer
So please, no cutoff
and no arranged bouquet, I plead
A red rose in a pot with soil and all its thorns intact
is all that I'll ever need.