I brought you roses on your sixteenth birthday … <br />Nearly twenty-six years ago. <br />The stems were long, lean and elegant <br />In almost exactly the way that I wasn’t. <br />There were thorns to cut to the quick <br />With the razor sharp wit <br />Of the suave, sophisticated and stylish <br />Which had somehow passed me by on the other side, <br />Giving me berth wide enough <br />To show me the mark I’d missed. <br /> <br />But the buds were all ‘me’: <br />A little shy in the knowledge of their own simplicity, <br />Giving themselves entire, safe and free <br />Into the care of your lovely young life, <br />Your tender touch; <br />For there lay neither fear nor judgement, <br />But the gentle eye of grace, <br />The sweet heart and hands of honour. <br /> <br />Every petal was me, My Love: <br />My outer layers some had seen, <br />Yet beneath lay your realm alone: <br />An ethereal land of spirit and second-sight. <br />Even I didn’t know <br />How my interior would look in the light, <br />But I did know you wouldn’t turn away <br />And you knew how I longed for you to stay. <br /> <br />That first bouquet was me - is still me, My Love: <br />We both knew what lay soft and eternal in the gift, <br />And had I by divine design my time again, <br />I would always choose to be: <br />Ellie’s First and Forever Rose.<br /><br />Tony Jolley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ellie-s-first-and-forever-rose/
