We Rose from Ashes #NaPoWriMo (off-prompt)

_{^{The Reverie of Mr. James, by Rene Magritte (Belgium) 1943}}

I would never wilfully pluck the flower.
I’d be happy if it turned its face toward me 
so I could entertain the possibility 
I am its sun.

The sprouting of a love is so often
an echo of the one before.
Shared whispers in the sprawled night.
An adventure that requires more daring than before.

Rose and thorn co-exist. 
The curl of viridian leaf hides a sting.  
You would be stung trying not to be.  
Isn’t it just truth-blinding-symmetry?  
That heaven is made lovely by the presence of a hell.

I, thorn, cannot help my nature.  
I am born to draw blood. 
As your test, I prick your conscience
to see if you really mean your love.  

They say the pink rose divines the one who would befriend you first.  And the heart would shyly blossom after that.  Take my hand, it would say.  Okay, you would say.  Then not know how to go any further than that.  Oh, the blushes.  The to-and-fro thoughts.  A slow waltz of back and forth.  It could go on for years like this.  Then one day, it warms up and…no more words are needed. 

White is only meant to be friend.  Entertain nothing more.  It would only dissipate like petals in a gale.

Yellow is a dark one.  For they secretly desire another while reading you their latest love poem.  Naughty, roguish yellow.  You are only stepping-stone for the one they’ve set their sights on.  A beguiling downfall for many a fellow.  You bask in their sun then wonder how the shadow of cloud had chilled you so quickly.

Red is intensity brooding.  Like a late summer storm brewing purpled clouds and damn, you’ll know it when they split.  Eyes are involved.  Air, electric with current.  Suddenly, you want to taste everything.  Passion like this must be tempered.  It cannot burn for longer than a summer else it would make ashes of you.  And still you walk willingly into its fire.  Its velvet hug, a promise unfolding.  To leave its centre marked forever.  

_{^{© N Nazir 2024}}

NaPoWriMo Prompt 25: some crazy Proust questionnaire thing that I took one look at and was like nuh-uh.

*My thanks always to the Ekphrastic Review for publishing my poem. I include the whole thing to save you scrolling. I have actually broken my own streak now cos I didn’t submit to the last ekphrastic challenge (the image didn’t inspire). The current one’s pretty intriguing. If you wanted to take part, you can do so here (deadline: 26th April i.e. tomorrow).

*Shared also for dVerse Open Link Night, where the optional prompt serendipitously includes another painting by Magritte as inspiration.