Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PETALS CHOOSE, by CHESTER ANDERS FEE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PETALS CHOOSE, by                    
First Line: Two wild rose petals from a single stem
Last Line: In rhythm to its final singing.
Subject(s): Fate; Destiny


Two wild rose petals from a single stem,
Where some great glory nurtured them,
Were wafted in their final dream
Toward limpid waters of a mountain stream:
Thus each one sought a place in falling
Which would complete its final calling.

One chose to ride the current's driving rift
With rippling glide toward foamy drift,
To swift cascade or shady pool
Where weeping birch or penciled willows drool,
Until it left the river's cool enchanting
And danced the waves of ocean panting.

At last awake, then in its bitterness
It cursed the water's salt caress,
And curling in a purple ball
Sank underneath the sea to end it all.
Above, a bubble bursting in emotion,
Released its sob, but did not stir the ocean.

The other sought an eddy gay and bright
Which swirled beneath noonday and night
In rhythm near the parent stem
Where some great glory nurtured each of them,
And watched, and thanked that stream beguiling
Because it dreamed its dream there smiling.

Content it slipped beneath the mirrored stream
A bit, and rested still at dream.
Above, no bubble burst in strife: --
But purple yet it gleamed a happy life
To those who watched above it, swinging
In rhythm to its final singing.





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