One day I focussed on a rose
Forgot the world around
Deliberately I admit
I closed out all the sound
I gazed upon the scented bowl
And let myself be drawn
Away from this world as it is
All troubled and forlorn
A hope of perfumed colour
Of sweetness and repose
A better world was offered
Within that single rose.

Yet as I fell towards the flower
To claim that proffered pleasure
I hesitated and drew back
Denying this bright treasure
For if the world were sweetness
All perfume and repose
It wouldn't be my world at all-
But just a single rose.

And if I let myself be drawn
And let my troubles fall
I would no longer be myself
But lost for good and all.