Roses Only
You do not seem to realize that beauty is a liability rather thanan 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 everythingself-dependent, anything anambitious civilization might produce: for you, unaided, to attempt through sheer reserve, to confuse presumptions resulting from observation, is idle.
You cannot make us think you a delightful happen-so.
But rose, if you are brilliant, itis not because your petals are the without-which-nothing of pre-eminence.
Would you not, minusthorns, be a what-is-this, a mereperculiarity? 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 tothe remark that it is better to be forgotten than to be re- membered too violently,your thorns are the best part of you.
This poem was typed in the form that the poet used.
The space and line breaks make for interesting pauses, and add to the tension of the final line.
Marianne Moore
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