“Unrequited hope…”

WHEN ROSES SPEAK, I PAY ATTENTION

“As long as we are able to
be extravagant we will be
hugely and damply
extravagant. Then we will drop
foil by foil to the ground, this
is our unalterable task, and we do it
joyfully.”

And they went on, “Listen,
the heart shackles are not, as you think,
death, illness, pain,
unrequited hope, not loneliness, but

lassitude, rue, vainglory, fear, anxiety
selfishness.”

Their fragrance all the while rising
from their blind bodies, making me
spin with joy.

- MARY OLIVER -