How it all unfolds
A paper that once was a rose
A message once cryptic
Alluring and mystic
Now simply spelled out
Simply words on a page
The petals misshapen
The thorns all removed
As if without pain
The thing is improved
Emotions imprisoned
No need for them now
Numbers and words
Will replace them somehow
Describing a flower
That doesn’t exist
Upon what it was
Writ in fine golden print
A Life in Poems 