Mistress Rose

Mistress Rose, dowager of the garden Would you flaunt your beauty with ne'er a pardon Fawn seductively in morning's breeze To entice favours from passing bees? Would you flick your crimson velvet skirts To court kisses from pretty butterfly flirts? Would petulant pansies turn their faces away When you paraded your beauty day after day? Would you be condescending of the straggly weeds Their disorderly presence contrary to your needs? Feel piqued by the hollyhock's graceful stance Beside the path where lovers dance? And would you covet spring when she playfully teased Sweet scents from the jasmine and shy sweet peas? And when dawn yawned into afternoon And evening gathered to greet the moon Would your smile turn thin-lipped and jaded As your sweet allure slowly faded? Such folly and vanity you couldn't express For earth's soul you do possess!