LATE ROSE

No ingenue is she, nor soubrette,

not April's unversed muse,

nor the Princess of June's gardens.

It is the Queen who blossoms

this golden October day amid Her

majestic, russet decay.

The monarch deferred her bloom

to the sage Season of

melting light and molten shadows,

for her lushly petalled 

adornments she intended not for 

Spring and Summer alone;

her tenderer Gold and cooler blush

she lends unto Autumn.

Her cheek she dusts with pearly fire,

upon her brow lavishes 

cupfuls of mellow aurescent shine

alchemised from blazing

bows and balmy bolts in the boreal

bitterness of a storm heralding

September's end.

"All beauty does not blossom in the

wide glare of June's Sun.

My late flower was born of silent awe,

from riper mists and hidden dew.

My spirit contemplated Creation's

sterner aspect, the Elements' wildness 

yielding to tranquil repose.

I am Nature's parting glance, as she

retreats into Earth's undercroft."

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: www.organicgardendreams.com