The Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart

All things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old,
The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart,
The heavy steps of the ploughman, splashing the wintry mould,
Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.

The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told;
I hunger to build them anew and sit on a green knoll apart,
With the earth and the sky and the water, re-made, like a casket of gold
For my dreams of your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.

— W.B. Yeats

 

One Perfect Rose

A single flow’r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet—
One perfect rose.

I knew the language of the floweret;
“My fragile leaves,” it said, “his heart enclose.”
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.

Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.

— Dorothy Parker

 

The rose is such a beautiful flower.  With over 100 species, they are magnificent in their color and scent.  Their uses are just as varied.  Of course they are used in gardens but you can also find roses being used in perfume, food and drink as well as medicine.  Roses are a favored subject in art and appear in portraits, illustrations, on stamps, as ornaments or as architectural elements. I chose the rose for this week’s photo challenge of “abstract” because my husband has a gorgeous rose garden in our yard and I have been working on a collection of photos for a special group of note cards and calendar. Working with different lighting and lenses I have captured some stunning images.  This is very Georgia O’Keefe like to me!

Enjoy.