Rose in Winter
…… —for my mother, Mary Mraz Culleny,
……… b. December 8, 1917
.
a cathedral steeple’s being launched,
snow swirls around its nave
so much stone to be sent aloft
on the tiny spark of a solitary rose
so much weight to be thrust into something other
by the flame of a delicate rose
from cold to colder it ascends
by the blaze of a redhot dot of life
on a stem
from breath to unbreath it’ll rise
by the spit fire of a steadfast
solitary rose
.
Jim Culleny
12/09/18
Photograph by Abbas Raza