Kailashana

Jan 12, 2010 ⭐ View statistics (Premium feature)

red roses

if you love me do not send me winter
roses
frozen in a long white box,
tied with a big red satin bow,
flowing
do not send to me the colours of the rainbow,
nor thorns to rip apart my flesh,
and
if you would love me,
my darling
do not betray me with a kiss
from faraway arms
but come to me with
a bouquet of yellow daffodils,
or tulips
a bottle of plum wine,
a blanket
and the summer sun....

— Kailashana, Jan 12, 2010

About This Poem

About the Author

Critiques

docmaverick

16 years 4 months ago

My dear Kailashana....

...you keep those principles, "HIGH" ! Seriously, this is a "classic". I can probably guess, that it was inspired by someone tiring of Cleveland's winter properties...nes 'pa? Well written. "Write on"! sincerely, #{:-{)}8==== docmaverick.

seabhac

16 years 4 months ago

The colour of summer

Just a hint of yellow to brake the glare of snow...A warming poem of basic needs. Seabhac

Kailashana

16 years 4 months ago

a loaf of bread, a jug of

a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou... or a picnic for 2 ;-) ~A

Orphani

16 years 4 months ago

Sounds like a date,June

Sounds like a date,June 21;but what flowers can one pick for you; when you own them all. Let the sunlight play on your hands, and in your hair; and please, don't hog all the cheese my love. B

Seren

16 years 4 months ago

I have run the suns

I have run the suns rays till their end I wore the tide down till it receded and you always inspire I carry on ;) love and hugs Jayne-Chloe x x

Nordic cloud

16 years 4 months ago

The great love that eclipses the Winter

The great love that eclipses the Winter with the sun, a great poet that eclipse the longing with a poem full of yellow daffodils, their sweet delicate essences perfuming the air with their poignant odours, the contrast of the red wine; may the blanket forever warm your thoughts and guide your pen dearest sister Anna. Ann.

Kailashana

16 years 4 months ago

Thank you all for reading.

Thank you all for reading. Sometimes winter is so veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long in Ohio all by one's self. But we each have our sunless days, eh? I fare much better on cloudy but warm days, as a matter of fact it teases out my melancholia. ~A

Kailashana

16 years 4 months ago

Well, my dear

Well, my dear Theo...sometimes one has to feed one's body & eyes to keep the soul alive, eh? Betrayal and duplicity? Oh, My. I had no idea. ~A

Kailashana

16 years 4 months ago

The Pantoum from

The Pantoum from 10/10/2005 The Subject Is Roses The subject is roses, always roses, beautiful roses, some buds, some fully opened and the scent ah, the scent of roses always bleed to me a remembering, beautiful roses, some buds, some fully opened and I have never known the emptiness of roses always bleed to me a remembering, where I fall when the roses are done flowering and I have never known the emptiness of roses I want the fulfillment of woman, of love where I fall when the roses are done flowering and I am hidden in my weeping again I want the fulfillment of woman, of love not empty words on satin pillows I am dreaming and I am hidden in my weeping again give me not your promise of blood & marrow not empty words on satin pillows I am dreaming I need your arms around me now, my Lover give me not your promise of blood & marrow Love me now or leave my body & soul alone forever I need your arms around me now, my Lover I no longer have patience I am tired of playing this game Love me now or leave my body & soul alone forever I can not take the weight of you in my heart I no longer have patience I am tired of playing this game I can not breathe with you inside me I can not take the weight of you in my heart you and I are the first slice of one into two I can not breathe with you inside me please go, oh love, please leave me, please don't go you and I are the first slice of one into two and the subject is always roses, beautiful roses please go, oh love, please leave me, please don't go kiss me make love to me let me weep in your arms and the subject is always roses, beautiful roses a black rose am I, dripping red thorns Nothing's much changed... eh? ~A

Arrow

16 years 4 months ago

I feel differently about this poem than

Theo. I feel no deception here, just an invitation to love more intimately, less self-consciously. I particularly like the first line break. I'm not crazy about lines 5 and 6. Line 5 strikes me as working against the cold, stiff imagery of the previous lines and I guess I associate a rainbow of colors with the joyous disarry of a grandmother's garden, again in contrast to the previous frigidity. A lovely, warm ending.

Kailashana

16 years 4 months ago

A box of red roses is tied

A box of red roses is tied with a long red satin bow... and when you carry them, usually running with joy, to the kitchen, wherever, the bow trails behind you, flowing with you. Anyhow last I received a box of red roses. Who knows now? Now I get exotic flowers... like my fav bird-of-paradise, or a bouquet of whatevers, stargazer lilies. ~A But I am very much intersted Theo...pray tell what duplicity deception are you speaking of? Or are you referring to it as an abstract, much as receiving/giving flowers--usually a sign of love, sometimes guilt for duplicitous behaviour, eh? ~A

Arrow

16 years 4 months ago

I get

cactuses? cacti? One bloomed once, quite bright pink, after something like 5 years. Remarkable. A testament to patient care.

Nordic cloud

16 years 4 months ago

I have never got a bouquet

I have never got a bouquet of flowers from those I love, except the one, who went over board sending the symbolic three pink or whatever it all was, I didn't know the codes so it was a little wasted on me. I did once get flowers, 12 carnations, when I was 17. WOW, the flowers I like least, because I don't exactly enjoy their perfume, those were all RED on Valentine's day of course, and I didn't know who poor George was; it turned out he had seen me fencing at his school, this boy, not THAT much younger than I, and had sent me these. When a year later I met him I felt terrible at not having been able to thank him in some way. Flowers that pass in the night! My mother didn't get flowers from my father either, it wasn't a tradition in our families I suppose, but when she did get flowers her eyes lit up with such joy, she was a flower arranger and travelled round arranging them quoting poetry( often haiku as she did the Ikebana Japanese style of arrangement too) or writing her own to illustrate the sentiments required for the use of those delicate expressions of nature. Her arrangements were more natural than most, not the stiff posed masses but she liked them to look as if they grew where she put them. She was much loved by all the WI's of Devonshire, driving out when quite old for such, in driving rain and snow, carting her stand and slides too to show them things or travels, a tireles spreader of joy was my mother, much loved and she still is by me and my sister Jean. Ever the giver. Oh now you make me have tears in my eyes Anna. Love to you Ann.

Nicole Michaels

16 years 4 months ago

Another perspective

Nice read. I like the restraint and simplicity. Flows well. Crafted well. Uncluttered. I read it as a request from a living person to another living person about their wishes after death. I don't mind the ambiguity as a reader. The poem has a desperate, desolate quality to me that is taut. Winter can be analogous to death. Faraway arms may be read as distanced by death. Along white box for the roses has as subtext for me as a reader as a long white box for a person (coffin). The title is lazy, the poem much much better.

Kailashana

16 years 4 months ago

I thank you for reading

I thank you for reading Nicole. Admittedly, a better title eludes me. Any suggestions? ~A "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal." Albert Pine

Nicole Michaels

16 years 4 months ago

Title

Oh clearly it was just a working title. One'll come to ya. You could be ironic and call it "A Better Title Eludes Me" (I once read a poem ending you finish this, I can't). You could wax romantic with "Antonym To A Rose." Or borrow from your Pine quote. A line from the poem is, at times, a good choice. A title could be on the same horizon as the poem, if you will, or enlighten the reader with new data to inform your poem, or befuddle the reader and further veil the poem. The possibilities are endless. The poem is pretty straightforward. Love it.

Nordic cloud

16 years 4 months ago

We LOVE to be path(os)etic don't we?

You would seduce the flowers the birds the sky with your words dearest Anna of Ohio, what does Ohio mean? For you are OH and your are HIGH and you are OH again. The Ohio daffodils Yellow trumpets, red thorns Your sharp thorns pierce my yellow flowers Conquer me, not roses, wine. Eclipse me with daffodils Seduce with yellow stamens and with wine. Thaw out my Winter blossoms Warm my Winter libido Gentle scents of daffodils bring I'm just having fun while I eat my breakfast dear Anna Good morning this morning of the 23rd Jan. 2010 My love to you and IF I COULD I would bring a whole field of daffodils and fill your room with their light. Ann in the snnnnoooowww.

hugo la rosa

16 years 4 months ago

Dear Kailashana:

We do not own our poems. Once uttered, the resposibility belongs to the reader, who risks as much showing of his/her soul as we do. That's why we love to read their comments. You have written an excellent poem. Thank you so much. Sincerely, Hugo

magics02

15 years 11 months ago

I looked up a rose

And came upon this write. Nice one it is Anna. I could see a picture right beside it also. These lines caught me tonight with the present mood I am in... if you would love me, my darling do not betray me with a kiss from faraway arms Really a nice one here Anna Peace Mona