Forgotten Roses ...

The basket was filled with red roses,

By the callous hands of the old florist.
Naked but smiling roses
Among the green foliage of hope
Triggering scents in my senses.
The bouquet gained colour, shape and life,
Forbidden beauty and fragrance.
The basket was lost, ashamed
Simply forgotten in a corner
Although far from being empty ...
Days went by and they were ignored,
The roses, now without colour, wilted.
Inert, aching, numb,
Wasting away their beauty and love.
Red they were, and changed,
Without their purple fragrance they became,
Fetid in that metamorphosis of aroma and colour,
Art that had given them in life such splendour!
Their petals and foliage had fallen,
In the end, just those dry and naked sticks
Reminded him of those red roses of love
There, in that corner, forgotten ...

Miguel Martins de Menezes