The Secret Rose
Somewhere unknown there grows
A multifoliate rose
Whose petals are arranged
In symmetries unchanged
By vagaries of time.
Its pattern is sublime:
It makes geometry
A form of artistry
And all the petals hold
A single dewdrop, rolled
Into a perfect ball—
Each one reflecting all.
Each petal on the rose
Contains itself a rose
And so on, endlessly—
Up to infinity.
To hold that rose in mind
Too long, would turn you blind.
It lasts a while in sight
And then dissolves in light.
Eulagisca Gigantea
It lives beneath the icy shores
Of cold Antarctica’s domain.
It scuffs along the ocean floors:
A pleated worm, with golden mane.
But underneath its shining pleats
That give the worm its golden sheen
Are horrid jaws, with which it eats—
A sight you’ll wish you’d never seen!
It is as if the Golden Fleece
Which Jason and his fellows sought
Revealed a set of shining teeth
To bite the hand by which it’s caught.
Luke Perera is a poet from Gibraltar, who has lived in Gibraltar, England, and the Philippines. He was included in the Anthology of Contemporary Gibraltar Poets (2019). He has recently begun sharing work on Substack, under the name Metrical Poet.
As they used to say in the 1960’s, “Far out, Man!” Comparing a hitherto unknown (at least to me) underwater Antarctic worm with golden pleats to the golden fleece of Jason using excellent rhyme was a fascinating read.