THE LAST ROSE HE GAVE ME

THE LAST ROSE HE GAVE ME

The last rose he gave me

Was purple not red,

He said red was too easy

For all we had said.

He placed it beside me

And smiled in that way,

I never once knew

He was saying goodbye that day.

I laughed at the colour,

Said purple for me?

He said its unusual

Like youll always be.

He touched one soft petal

Then looked in my eyes,

I never once thought

It would be our goodbye.

I put it in water

Beside our old chair,

Not knowing tomorrow

He wouldnt be there.

His slippers still waiting

Right there by the door,

I never thought Id listen

For his footsteps no more.

I called him that morning,

I begged him to wake,

I shook him so gently,

My hands all a shake.

Downstairs was his last gift

The rose still in view,

His note with a message

That said I love you.

For days I sat near it

Afraid it would die,

As though keeping it living

Would keep him nearby.

But petals are fragile

And time has no heart,

One fell on the table

And I fell apart.

I gathered each petal

As gentle as prayer,

I whispered he touched you

So please just stay there.

I dried them in pages

Where nobody knew,

With his photograph beside them

And his note I love you.

The years have been many

My hair has turned grey,

But sometimes that morning

Feels like yesterday.

His coat has long gone now

His chair has been moved,

But I kept his last rose

Because it was loved.

Strange how a rose

Can remember a hand,

How something so little

Can still understand.

It remembers his fingers

His smile and his voice,

And the man who picked purple

When red was not his choice.

Sometimes in the evening

When daylight grows thin,

I open those pages

And let yesterday in.

The petals have faded

Their perfume has gone,

But love doesnt die

Just because life carries on.

So if you should ask me

What treasure I own,

It isnt my silver

My house or my home.

Its a handful of petals

That time cannot take,

The last rose he gave me

Before my heart had to break.