Saturday 27 November 2010

Aide memoire


There are some lovely photos trapped in my camera.
The memory card will not yield them up to the computer.

I rescued three pale ivory roses and a spray of vermillion rose hips
 from the bitter cold and brought them into a sunny room.
They are in a heavy square glass bottle -
not an expensive vase,
it used to hold balsamic vinegar.

The petals are densely packed, 
multi-layered and quartered.
They have frayed frilled edges 
as fragile as old manuscripts.

The wiry stems, 
too thin to support the heavy heads
bristle with tiny pink thorns 
and glisten with glassy air bubbles.

The rose hips are waxy bright, 
the shadows they cast sharply defined
and slightly exaggerated by the slanting sun.

The scent is a watery faint
memory.

5 comments:

  1. Who needs photographs when offered such elegant word pictures?

    But I hope your memory card problems are fixed soon - such glitches are just a tad too character building!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh dear, perhaps you are going to have to write a letter to the gentleman in the red and white suit telling how good you have been this year and please can you have a new camera?.........
    Incidentally, you painted a beautiful picture with words.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Ivory and vermilion" . I'm going to hold that close all day .

    ReplyDelete
  4. necessity the mother of invention - and creativity. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your words are more beautiful than photos.

    ReplyDelete