Lin Lane | + Follow Poet |
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As Another Petal Falls

Last week I cut a bouquet of flowers
from my garden and now they’re withering.
It fills me with melancholy memories
about a time when my love was new
and gently flowed within my heart.

Time between bud to bloom and death
of the once velvet petals has come too soon.
I've watched their bright colors fade 
and frowned when some fell away.
It's as if their drooping faces
means their heartbeat is slowing down.

I sighed when in twilight's lavender embrace,
another petal fluttered to the floor. 
I'm reminded of the childhood daisy game
and think, Will the last petal fall
as I whisper, "He loves me not?"

I hope it gently descends without grief,
but no relief will I find in its departing.
How I will mourn when at last, it dies,
leaving me with the sense of another loss.
I've held on as long as a bloom to its stem.
In the mayhem of life, I've had reason to sigh.

Memories linger inside my heart,
although my love and I have grown apart.
I am recalling each beautiful year
of the love we once had and then lost.
A tear for each one, I sorrowfully cried.
In despair, I will softly whisper goodbye
and weep as the last wilted petal falls.

Copyright © Lin Lane | Year Posted 2025

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Duke Beaufort Date: 3/8/2025 7:55:00 PM Lin, you paint a realistic view of some of our sorrows. I often think that happiness and sadness are inexorably linked. All we create eventually ends. Our friends come and then they go. What's the most important lesson in all of this? I think we know. Smiles!! Login to Reply

Tania Kitchin Date: 3/4/2025 4:34:00 PM Lin, a beautiful, heartfelt poem of a love lost that was once like a beautiful bouquet of flowers that over time lost their luster and petals. Login to Reply

Jerry Brotherton Date: 3/4/2025 10:20:00 AM A remarkable poem, Lin. Like the petals wither and fall away, so do the days of our lives. Remember to smell and enjoy them while they last. Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 3/4/2025 10:51:00 AM That's a very exacting comparison. Thank you very much for reading and leaving me your kind thoughts, Jerry.

Ink Empress Date: 3/3/2025 10:13:00 PM Dear lin, as i read your opening stanza it made me think; that maybe that is exactly why i feel so sad seeing flowers wither and i dont like receiving bouquets, i recently gave my sister a galentine bouquet and i see it now withering and it makes me so sad; love too sometimes can be like that, once was full of life now a memory wilted: How deep and heartfelt! Theres always soul in your word weaving; pleasure visiting you today: sending you light always Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 3/4/2025 10:50:00 AM Yes, I know what you mean, Ink. As beautiful as they are, as well as the offering as a gift, being cut shortens their lives. It's as sad as watching leaves fall from trees each Autumn. Your compliments of my poetry having soul is taken to heart. Thank you so very much.

Tom Cunningham Date: 3/3/2025 2:16:00 PM Each petal dropping is the passage of time, sometimes we think love will last forever but like the flowers relationships can wither. Best of luck in the contest Lin. Tom Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 3/3/2025 3:18:00 PM Your concept is exactly right to my thinking, too Tom. Thanks a bunch.

David Kavanagh Date: 3/3/2025 10:59:00 AM Better to have loved and lost — Lin, I think is the overwhelming factor in this beautiful piece, we’ve all had reason to sigh in the mayhem of life, but in the end it’s gotta be better — than never to have loved at all! All the best for contest, cheers David Login to Reply David Kavanagh Date: 3/3/2025 11:42:00 AM It’s fully understandable to disagree with Tennyson in the rawness of loss Lin! Lin Lane Date: 3/3/2025 11:08:00 AM Thanks for reading this one and giving your well wishes, David. I've found reason to disagree with Tennyson a couple of times with his thought. I think I even included it in a poem some time ago.

Andrea Dietrich Date: 3/3/2025 10:15:00 AM You chose an excellent way to portrayal the title of this challenge. Good metaphor for dying. I did the same in the sonnet I wrote, not yet posted. And not as good as Joe you took the challenge. Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 3/3/2025 10:50:00 AM Well, bring it on, Andrea and let's see how yours reads. I look forward to it. Thank you very much for the compliments.

Daniel Henry Rodgers Date: 3/3/2025 10:03:00 AM Dear Lin, How deeply moving, and I loved the way you express the bittersweet passage of time with such tenderness. For Valentine's Day, I bought my wife two Hyathenes, a pink and a purple, in a glass vase with the bulb roots in water. I thought the purple one was doing fine and the pink one wasn't bursting forth. Within a week, the pink burst forth and the purple died. Go figure. Thank you for sharing such a raw and beautiful reflection. Spring Blessings, My Dear Friend, Daniel Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 3/3/2025 10:49:00 AM Oh, I'm sorry one of them died, Daniel. It's the same way I feel about my poetry...one that I think might have a chance in a contest gets an N/A, and the ones that I think are kinda meh...gets accolades. That kind of reaction can't be figured out... we can just write what feels right to us. Thanks ever so much for your usual great remarks.