Roses Only

 

You do not seem to realise that beauty is a liability rather than

   an asset—that in view of the fact that spirit creates form we are

           justified in supposing
      that you must have brains. For you, a symbol of the unit, stiff and

           sharp,
   conscious of surpassing by dint of native superiority and liking for

           everything
self-dependent, anything an

 

ambitious civilisation might produce: for you, unaided to attempt

           through sheer
   reserve, to confute presumptions resulting from observation, is idle.

           You cannot make us
      think you a delightful happen-so. But rose, if you are brilliant, it
   is not because your petals are the without-which-nothing of pre-

           eminence. You would look, minus
thorns—like a what-is-this, a mere

 

peculiarity. They are not proof against a worm, the elements, or mildew
   but what about the predatory hand? What is brilliance without

           co-ordination? Guarding the
      infinitesimal pieces of your mind, compelling audience to
   the remark that it is better to be forgotten than to be remembered too

           violently,
your thorns are the best part of you.

Marianne Moore