White Roses

How magnificent the flower arrangements of white roses looked. Each flower unique in its own, each petal delicate, smooth and silky. White the symbol of purity, innocence, more of a childlike innocence. The three flower arrangements captured me and the more I looked, the more I remembered the poem I wrote for my sixteen year old niece, Alexis Angelica, who died two days short of her seventeenth birthday. I stood there admiring the white roses while my mind ran the images of Angel, the name our family called her, always smiling like a cherub. I felt these white roses drawing me in, representing and reminding me the stages of her innocent and courageous life and how she endured all the pain with her sweet smile she gave us, especially to her parents. Looking at white rose after white rose was like image after image of her. One of the twins born with cerebral palsy and major breathing problems and had a stroke when she was three years old that she never walked, talked, ate, played, learned, wrote; but felt, felt and endured pain. Like the beautiful, gentle, celestial white rose, she was pure, precious with beaming smile that brought joy and delighted her siblings and parents and was especially tough spirited, always coming out of numerous medical battles with smiles until the Corona virus took her away from our family. Just like the sweet fragrance of the dainty white rose, she was a sweet, special child, our family’s little “Angel”, harmless, ingénue, innoxious. 5/9/21 All Yours (May11) Poetry Brian Strand 3/11/21 Flower or Flowers In Imagism Form Constance La France Used: PS Grammar