
  White Roses
  ~~~~~~~~~~~

  "You may break, you may shatter,
   the vase if you will,
   but the scent of roses will hang round it still" - Charles Lamb

  She bleeds pearly white,
  the cloudy ice
  of a frozen heart.
  No crimson stain
  records the rape of this
  virgin bride,
  swathed in a veil of
  illusions and false words.
  She snaps the reigns of
  her chariot of carousel horses,
  and returns to her
  cloistered walls,
  a pagan nun
  bethrothed
  to a dream of love,
  stillborn.
  A wraith of dreams
  weeping a penance of tears,
  a powdery perfume
  of molding white roses.

                            - Jan Kingsford
