Just How Fast A Flower Fades Poem by Susan Lacovara

I am familiar with frost
That fades rose petals
Clinging desperately to the fence
Their summer beauty
Taken for granted
So certain was I
They could long remain
In the brilliant light
Of lover's eyes

Turning ever so slightly
They lower their sweet faces
A noticeable pulling back
Away from my outreached hand
But not without, first,
A wink, a nod
As if to say they shall miss me, too
In some small measure
Knowing we shared a season of sentiment
Love, symbolically on the vine
Leaping colors and lasting fragrance
To perfume my heart and hopes
Too quickly stolen by Autumn's angry arrival
Dare I pick the last of delicate blooms
Press them in the vault of a book
To savor, when comes a time
My heart is strong enough to remember
Just how much you loved those wild roses
Just how much you loved our summer
Just how much you loved me
Just how fast a flower fades