Les Fleurs du Mal

“Les Fleurs du Mal”

The flowers I thought you gave me
Are wilting inside of me.
They made me so happy
The day I thought you’d bring them home.
I remember I could not wait to see
The look on your face when we were alone.
I couldn’t wait to kiss you for hours
The day I thought you would bring me flowers.

I do not weep today that it never happened—
No, alas! I am not saddened
By what I knew you’d never deliver.
I just wanted you to be there—
I wanted you to be with me
When I died in the ruins of my woe.
You were the last thing I wanted to see—
And the last thing I wanted to know…

Ah! What blossomless bouquet is this of mine
That wilts beside these unknown blooms of thine?
What seedless garden has lent them to this sorrow
That walks in vision of tomorrow
Of the spring whose flowers bring no cheer
Like the phantoms that are wilting here
That I weep to view, as I have seen,
The beauty that only may have been?

© 2022 Marten Hoyle