Red like blood
I plucked a rose
Grasped its beauty close to me
uncaring of its thorns
Blood red
red blood
a petal droplet
dripped
from my finger
and pulsed
mortality
whilst rose petals scattered
in twilight’s breeze
Beauty thorned
beauty torn
Heart pierced
with grief
All beauty
comes with sorrow
as well as joy
What we hold and love one day
on another day we lose
we live and breathe
the cost of beauty
We live and and breathe
the costs of truth:
of what is
never lost
Petals red
petals drop
one by one
wind blown
far and wide
They scatter in the garden
sorrow and joy
from my finger
I sucked blood:
tasted life
The beat
of my heart
drubbed a song of love
desiring life
not yet the lament
Petals red
red blood
petals drop
one by one
Life’s beauty lasts
but a moment
just a breath of time
but hold it once
despite its wounds
despite its sorrows
despite its cost
it sings
the fall of
Pomegranate seeds.
A note from the poet: This poem was inspired through finding the voice of my character María de Salinas in my yet unpublished novel ‘Falling Pomegranate Seeds: All Manner of Things’ – a work which imagines the life of Katherine of Aragon through María’s eyes.
