---

James Parker Haley

This Flower

Daily I walk the garden path
The smells familiar its life unchanging

Today I pause a difference blooms
I see the shape its beauty smiles

Drawn by its tempting fragrance
I Breath the sweetness of its scent
A poison it consumes my soul
My legs weak I leave its beauty

Daily I risk its sweet aroma
The garden changed familiar gone

Still around the flowers grow
I see only one

Will I understand its power
This flower...The Rose