A Paper Rose Poem by Lonnie Hicks

Each time pen and line
brush the page

it is with you in mind;

all these years

you've been
reader to my writer-

you and I

giving life

to what starts as

mere blank pages-

and end as

our shared experience.

I can feel you;
hear you breathing

and lay

down each

night

renewed

for you have

read

between my lines

written and

I

received

your resonances
come back

to my ear-

these reciprocities

tracking

the journey

we each

together

have taken-
our lines entwining.

No greater bond

than the bond

of reader and that written;

no love more timeless

than that shared

in the missive

shaped

by two

interchanging

in this journey

through

life's space.

No gratitude greater
than mine.

Capture here then

to be clear

the

paper rose

this writing
is

because
its lines form

a rose

which will

last

down the years
forever read
forever written.