A Wild Rose

This bridge has arched the lake's narrows
for a century, flanked on either side
by Autumn trees shedding their faded leaves,
blowing with the first snowflakes
across worn gray stones of my spirit.

Six months ago you felt the first pain.
Now you lie in white sterility
of hospice care, continually exorcizing
the feeding tube, a final tether 
binding you to earth,
where the morphine pump wheezes
every fifteen minutes 
and missionaries advise prayer
to the strength-less living.

Your a**hole oncologist told me your suffering
was none of my business.
I told him to take his prognosis,
as suffocating as the pine cleaner
lingering like miasma
over hallway linoleum,
and get the f**k out.

From the corner of my eye
I spot a wild rose sprouting on the bank
at the base of a haggard maple,
an anomaly in bleak October,
glaring crimson as my resentment,
angry as the dream when I said,
I'll be your will when yours is gone.

Knowing full well it won't survive the winter,
I give fate the finger
from my dismal perch,
just as I gave you two dozen such blooms this Mother's Day.
I'll see you in Spring,
rises the phoenix from my Summer ashes.

The flurries thicken around me
like a gathering of angels.
With eyes stinging
I toss plucked petals of pennies
into the Judas lake
while wishing as hard as I can.

12/31/18
Copyright © | Year Posted 2018


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Date: 1/19/2020 7:44:00 AM
Congratulations on your placement in the contest..
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Date: 1/31/2019 1:47:00 AM
A Wild Rose, very feelingly writ, a moving piece
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Dale Gregory Cozart
Date: 1/31/2019 8:28:00 AM
Thanks very much for reading.
Date: 1/22/2019 2:59:00 PM
Hello Dale,throwing a pennies into a pond making a wish I do believe in it. I believe in the lucky penny. have a nice day my friend.
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Date: 1/9/2019 7:36:00 PM
In the midst of despair there are glimmers of hope...A very moving write Dale..
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Dale Gregory Cozart
Date: 1/9/2019 7:46:00 PM
Thanks, Joseph.
Date: 1/6/2019 4:48:00 PM
wow, Dale. this is free verse at its best and most personal. FAVE. (and congrats for its win too)
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Dale Gregory Cozart
Date: 1/6/2019 5:20:00 PM
Thanks very much, Andrea.
Date: 1/5/2019 10:06:00 PM
This poem is hauntingly beautiful in its expression of desperation and anger over the inevitable pain of impending loss. It is a Fave for me Dale! It would right at the top for me. Congratulations on your win! xxoo : )
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Dale Gregory Cozart
Date: 1/6/2019 8:18:00 AM
Thank you so very much, Connie.
Date: 1/5/2019 6:21:00 PM
A powerful and troubling write, Dale. Congrats on your top win.
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Dale Gregory Cozart
Date: 1/5/2019 6:43:00 PM
Thanks much, Line.
Date: 1/5/2019 10:13:00 AM
I know how your feel about the hospital smell and the doctors can be jerks .Congratulations on your win, Dale . Hugs Eve ~`*
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Dale Gregory Cozart
Date: 1/5/2019 10:35:00 AM
Thank you, Eve.
Date: 1/5/2019 8:49:00 AM
Dale, your poem made me cry! I appreciate your raw feelings as no matter how magnanimous we are, when we are brought to the brink of insanity, we must release our hurt. I thought at first the wild rose would bring you comfort but just like Sylvia Plath’s poem Tulips, there is cruelty in even the beautiful. Congrats! Fave!
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Dale Gregory Cozart
Date: 1/5/2019 9:10:00 AM
Thanks so much, Kim.
Date: 1/3/2019 6:58:00 PM
Sad, moving; a difficult situation to be in.
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Dale Gregory Cozart
Date: 1/5/2019 7:52:00 AM
Thanks for reading, ML.
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