AS FROTHING WOUNDS OF ROSES

As frothing wounds of roses
Harry summer over a wintry sea,
So does thy very strangeness
Bring me ever nearer thee

As the cry of the bird-torn wind
Hastens the heart beyond its usual need,
So shalt thy dear lovliness,
Upon the forlorn unrest of my cold will,
Be as that snowy stain the roses bleed

O as flaming wounds of roses
Marry summer to the most wintry sea,
So does thy very woman's separateness
Bring me ever nearer to thee 


The Love Poems of Kenneth Patchen