Poetry Sunday: One Perfect Rose

Dorothy Parker certainly had a way with words and a quirky sense of humor. Both are displayed to full effect in her poem "One Perfect Rose."

One Perfect Rose

by Dorothy Parker

A single flow'r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet -
One perfect rose. 

I knew the language of the floweret;
'My fragile leaves,' it said, 'his heart enclose.'
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.

Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.

Not perfect perhaps, but still nice for November.

Comments

  1. Love this Dorothy - and such a lovely rose.

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    Replies
    1. It's 'Darcy Bussell' which has done very well for me this year and is still putting out lots of blooms.

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  2. I love Dorothy Parker. Would you believe, we still have roses here and there in upstate New York even now? Even after a record November snowstorm?

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    Replies
    1. Roses are tough as well as beautiful. Maybe they are an apt "amulet" for love.

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  3. What a fun poem! I guess a perfect limousine would be welcomed too! ;-)

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  4. I also love Dorothy Parker. I just get her humor. I once read a biography about her, I think it was called The Viscious Circle which included portraits of all those Algonquin Roundtable folks. She was not a happy person, she drank a lot, and had a sharp tongue. My kind of woman. Then there was the movie, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle. I recommend both, unless you just want to read her poetry which is also great.

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    Replies
    1. I do appreciate her acerbic sense of humor. It seems to fit our times very well.

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