PEACE

It’s a hybrid rose called Peace

that carries spring into summer,

letting its petals fall in autumn

to shield the heart from its winter

Coloured yellow, the peace rose

is for remembrance of times past;

if love, like roses, fade and die,

be sure its petals are crafted to last

At any time of year, whenever

and wherever we ache for a need

to inhale love’s heady perfume,

Peace roses, human senses, invade

Too often loved ones go to war,

never to return or, even if they do,

we too, like them, still suffer

as only humanity in winter can do

If the more ghastly realities of war

even ghosts fear, only fools suppose

its deeper roots lie but dormant

as nature sleeps and nothing grows

At such times, we must be strong,

take well-worn paths the heart knows,

for where there’s love there’s hope

and kinder summers of the Peace rose