That Trampled Rose 11-18-08

I so remember long ago
a Fair had came to town.
People talked for many weeks
and came from miles around.

There was one of several contests -
two roses were compared.
It seemed like only yesterday
the way the people stared....

A mass of people circled,
around the roses, stood;
but sitting in my wheel chair,
I couldn't see too good.

One received the highest prize
the other one was tossed;
as people cheered the winner and,
ignored the one that lost.

And for the rose that lost its case?
The judge just cast aside.
It then was trampled under feet.
Its owner nearly cried.

The winning rose was held up high -
for all the world to see;
The people crammed around it close,
and oh, they did agree.

For a better look, some in back
stood high on their tip toes
shuffling for best position
still trampling on that rose.

Then finally, a little boy
'bout two or three years old,
snatched that dead old flower
and brought to me to hold.

It's stem was crushed so thoroughly.
It wasn't very long.
Hardly recognizable -
with most it's petals gone.

I wanted nothing of it -
oh, to see the other rose!
But I sat in my wheel chair.
That's how the story goes.

The boy stood right beside me -
He thought he'd done me good.
He never said a single word,
he just misunderstood.

There on my lap it laid until
I got back to my room.
I tossed it in the trash can as -
it would not ever bloom.

But oh, a few days later,
the County Fair had passed;
when all the excitement dwindled,
when people left at last....

I unburied that dead rose,
and pressed it in a book;
and now when I'm discouraged,
I take another look.

Pressed deep within the pages
of Psalm One-hundred-three;
I often think of that small boy -
the love he showed to me.

The winning rose has long since passed -
gone, its worldly shine.
Though others long for other things,
that trampled rose?  Still mine.

©2008 louis gander ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
http://www.ganderpoems.org/

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Psalm 103 (NASB)
Praise for the LORD'S Mercies.
A Psalm of David.
1"Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name."