Frederic Parker Poet Free verse

Bougainvillea

To cut or not to cut...that is the question
whether to allow thorns to again draw blood
or to watch as a gentle hand is pierced

Could that I seek a simpler answer
as bougainvillea exposes passions
from its different colors and brings such a glorious sense

Alas,  their beauty is a curse
giving to my flesh the wounds of battle
leaving scars upon outstretched arms 

My kingdom for a stem without thorns!

What is a bougainvillea, is it a sweet blush of a flower?
Is it a vine that intangles or a shrub that borrows space?
Is it a way to see an ornament of nature
bloom without fragrance or a false rose with little promise
a flower with thorns or thorns with flowers?

Yes is it nobler of the mind to live with bougainvillea
which needs no care and can sustain itself 
or seek out roses which take more prudent care?

Ah! This realm...this yearning...this heartland, needs both

3/17/19 contest Bougainvillea

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Lindsay Laurie March 18, 2019 at 5:18 PM G'day Frederic … very good description of a beautiful but rampart creeper that hides its deceptive thorns with lovely purple bracts that I recall. A couple of bougainvillea's in my memory covered entire sheds and almost hid the host tree that supported them - thank you Frederic - LINDSAY

Andrea Dietrich March 17, 2019 at 7:19 PM I love the way you did this theme. I still do not know what they look like. i need to google it. I did not even know this word before today! I have rose bushes which I do hardly anything at all to maintain. I snip them off occasionally and I do not even trim them all the way down at end of summer. I just trim them 1/4 down and they have been growing well for years now. So i will opt always to go with roses! Frederic Parker March 18, 2019 at 4:11 PM Andrea, bougainvillea are a pretty plant but can grow to size as to be unmanageable