The Bluestone Review Spring 2022

Rose Garden By Gabriella Nightingale After a very long grueling day with life today

I ran to my secret hiding place in the Rose Garden I hurled myself down beneath the perspicacious thorns And there prayed simultaneously and earnestly for peace Dear Blue Rose fill me once again with all your mystery That I may once again fly with all the spectacular fairies Dear Purple Rose coat me thoroughly in your enchantment That I may find myself enraptured once again with life Dear Burgundy Rose unveil the unconscious beauty That I imagined exists from the past the present the future Dear Orange Rose come resurrect the enthusiasm and passion lost That once again at this moment I can live life to the fullest of all Dear Salmon Rose rehabilitate my soul with thriving excitement That I may hunger forever for all the desire to grow abundantly Dear Pink Rose submerge me in grace and lasting gratitude That I may honor the indebtedness of walking life’s journey Dear Peach Rose roll me in many layers of modest sincerity That I may never waste a second of time recklessly again Dear Yellow Rose splatter me all over with friendship and cheer That I may brighten this gloomy hate-divided forsaken world Dear White Rose please exonerate my purity in soul and heart That every living creature knows the breath of all my love Dear Red Rose allow your effulgent rays of love permeate me That every cell can encase and engulf all unbroken heartedness Dear Green Rose let me chug your constant rejuvenation of spirit That I may ascend all shame and indifferences hurled my way And last may each thorn I collide with all along the journey’s path Prompt me to return and earnestly meditate in my Rose Garden

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