I planted a rose
In the corner of my garden
To give me some color
On a gray, rainy day

And each day, at dawn
I would water and **** it
Warding off any other flower
To keep its glory in bloom

Red as blood were its petals
And tender they were
Almost as soft
As the touch of a lover

And it called out to me
And it told me to take it
It didn’t belong in the ground
But in the finest vase

And I looked at it, hesitant
Its words a blur to me
But its color was hypnotic
And I couldn’t resist

And I reached out a hand
And almost immediately
Red droplets flowed
The thorns breaking my skin

Breaking my heart
And my digits hurt
And because of a rose
My reality flipped

I looked at it, panicked,
And I loosened my grip
And it dropped to the ground
Yet my hand remained red

I frantically washed it
Forcing soap in the wounds
And as much as it hurt
I tried to go on

And it lied there, In bloom
Daring to look at me
As if I betrayed it
As if It was bleeding too

It said if I loved it I would have held on
Despite the pain
And the blood
And the tears in my eye

I said that if it loved me
It would have wanted me to bloom
And yet I stood there
Bleeding for it