Tattooed Roses

On the margin of some pages
Heart felt feelings
Exclamations
Written large
Joy or sorrow
Wonder
Or most precious
Love
Evoked by now sacred passage
 
Emblem red
The petals bedewed
Dancing among thorns
Fragrant rose
Beauty that wounds
 
Innocence lost
In sweetness
But the sweet of the apple
 Not so sweet by half as your lips
And I lost in your kiss
As tides o'rflow
And fire devours
I am by love consumed
 
What is that bright and constant light
As a star to dare men on
To brave strange seas
And follow heartfelt dreams
Is no less or more
Than your eyes soft glow
Which casts a certain knowing
As witchcraft spins belief
 
I have lain bloody
Still
And silent
In crimson pools of dagger's work
Betrayals
Save for the words
"You too?"
For those dearest betray with kisses
No sound
My heart has ceased to pound
And what is the gaining in my loss
To know
I have paid the cost
 
Yet
Still I would love
Heavy and bitter
Not knowing if even time could heal
Nor knowing if love was real
People change
Walk away
Yet hunger still the same
For love
No less nor more than I
 
So why not try
Innocence lost
Old wounds remain
And beauty conspires
All the same
To tattoo roses over scars
Isn't this the truth of love