The Rose Story

The Rose Story1

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay. 2


There lived a man who knew neither joy nor sorrow .No dreams, no nightmares, no hopes, no fear, Nothing. This man was utterly nothing. All he did was exist. Often he pondered his existence and found that there was nothing for him. One day as he walked along a trail he noticed that there were numerous bare patches along the trail where men had stopped and carelessly picked flowers, the annihilation of such beautiful gifts, such blatant damnation of the lord himself. After miles the man saw a clearing and decided to rest beneath a massive oak. When he awoke he saw a damask rose. It was hauntingly beautiful, the petals seemed to wave in the wind and without thinking he went to pick the precious rose. His hand flew back, the emerald leafs stained with crimson. The rose awoke "are you a fool, my thorns are to sharp for any man now let me go, or I shall only cut you deeper". To this the man simply replied" there is no glory in this world, except your adoration. I love your thorns of steel, and words of ice. Tell me what I can do to earn your favor" the rose replied "if I'm so beautiful, if I am this great muse for you then why am I so fucked up, why am I so fierce, why am I alone?" " Man is blind, man is weak, man is man. Your everything I've ever needed so curse me, cut me, kill me. Just let me look upon you a little longer." The rose was stunned, such blind faith, such surrender, such conviction. "ok, take me to your garden" He rushed home and ripped every other flower out of his garden, they never mattered. Hours passed as he slowly dug up the rose, by the time he was done his hands no longer resembled human hands, no skin, no nail, just blood. The roses roots went deep, deeper then any trees, as if she drew her strength form the very center of the earth. Worn the man eventually had the rose in his garden, and as he went in he said to her "for you I would run any distance, climb to any height or dig to any depth. Angels will envy our love" years passed and the rose grew restless in the garden she wanted to see the woods to know the smell of the grass on a cool autumn morning, to feel the dew on her leafs, to once again let her roots sink deep into the earth. She thought only of what the poor man would want, she refused to let anything even her joy come before him. The man was no fool and could see that she was no longer content in his garden. One day the man sat with her and they spoke and he asked if there was anything that he could do to make her happy, she shook her leafs but he knew it was a lie. That night as the rose slept he dug her up and planted her back near the oak tree where she always belonged. She awoke as he stepped away, at first she wept, then in time she smiled and eventually she laughed openly. The man resisted for months but eventually could no longer stand the thought of being away from the precious rose he went to her ashamed of what he had done and how he had tried to make her happy but failed to resist her pull. She refused him, he was broken. He never knew when to quit, so he prepared a final attempt to win back his rose he wrote about how he would be content with seeing her only once a year as long as she loved him. As long as she would say she was his, He said time doesn't matter, it never has the only thing that was ever dear to me was you and for you I will run any distance just to see you if only for a moment. I will build a new home under the great oak, And together we will spread a thousand roses throughout the world.