Side-walking, in the heat
On a path near the street
In a state so unlike my own
Three youths in march
Sun kissed by summer shenanigans
We walked, hopped, skipped and jumped
The tar hot enough to fry an egg on
Ourselves not far from
Our eyes on everything but the future
That I saw it
A perfectly cut rose, placed
Between the cracks of the sidewalk
Standing tall
And as I stared down at
Wilting petals dead for water
I thought about the complexities
Of summer time life
And the everlasting patterns of
Love that a rose held
In petals it grew
Only to die in the heat of dead summer
Only to die on the side of a road
Placed in memorial
Which they passed without a wink
Or the slightest of grazes
Of burning empathy
For life ahead
The linear path they could see
Of the sidewalk beyond
Running along an endless street,
That I realized I could never
Ever explain her to them.