The Rose of Pink Neglect

 

Again I walked in sleep, though not as then.

The dunes were endless, shifting underfoot;

beyond them stretched grey plains where nothing stirred,

and still I wandered, knowing not my way.

 

At last I reached the Town of Disbelief.

Beyond its gates, the shadowed Garden of Trust,

where Mirrors of High and Low rose and descended

like ponds that breathe in unison, their fountains

cast golden sparks through veils of haze and mist.

 

Behind Trees of Deception I saw them first—

the little Green, the shy Blue. Hand in hand, 

waiting for me, then slowly drawing  near.

 

“Have you not seen

the newly blooming Rose of Pink Neglect?”

 

Then through the grasses of Endurance 

I walked to where it stood,  its petals lifted 

towards a sun they always knew by heart.

 

I knelt. No one commanded it, no one took count,

for beauty had become too great, too sacred

to stay upright or to be unaffected.

 

I never had considered entering

the Town of Disbelief. Yet had I turned away,

I never should have found  this  rose of Pink Neglect —

 

Since then,  I trust those quiet unknown hands

that lead us straight and surely to those places

where splendour lives and  where the wonders grow.