Dare!

Starlight shines upon a garden Rose

Its soft loveliness belies its secret  

That it kept within it a deeper gift

That both beauty and truth were in it

Irresistible fragrance bound with a sting

Irrefutable truth bound with grace

Unfathomable the reason for its thorn in me

Unthinkable the joy of its inherent Giver  

And there the terrible part of my unsolvable question:

Shall I run from the painful thing

Because it offends?

            But the carpet is red that bears the feet of them

            That have trodden down the grapes

Laid before those who held not back from life

Because of death

It is better to dare than hide!