Letter to the Wind from a Shaggy Rose
stop
wind
I know you are the very biggest strongest thing
on this earth
but please stop pushing
everything
everywhere
slow down wind
just think
about me for a minute
what if my fresh-painted petals
get too ruffled and
sail away in one of your
winding whirl-a-gigs
far to the way-other-side
of the globe
and then
what if one of my
still-hushed blossoms
snaps off
falls to the ground
lies there broken-hearted
looking like an sad sad smudge of
rag-tag dirt
look wind
I know you are
strong as planet-twirl
big as measureless sky
lighter than any sunbeam-flick
'cause most days
I hear you
telling clouds where to go
giving rain drops their directions
stampeding dust from
one side of the world
to another
you see wind
I know you have
all the power to do
whatever you want
whenever you want
but truth is
if I could see you in person
if you could be solid for just a blink
right in front of me
I would tell you directly
face to face breath to breath
stop pushing
everything
everywhere
because a rose
wind
is also
no small thing
wind
I know you are the very biggest strongest thing
on this earth
but please stop pushing
everything
everywhere
slow down wind
just think
about me for a minute
what if my fresh-painted petals
get too ruffled and
sail away in one of your
winding whirl-a-gigs
far to the way-other-side
of the globe
and then
what if one of my
still-hushed blossoms
snaps off
falls to the ground
lies there broken-hearted
looking like an sad sad smudge of
rag-tag dirt
look wind
I know you are
strong as planet-twirl
big as measureless sky
lighter than any sunbeam-flick
'cause most days
I hear you
telling clouds where to go
giving rain drops their directions
stampeding dust from
one side of the world
to another
you see wind
I know you have
all the power to do
whatever you want
whenever you want
but truth is
if I could see you in person
if you could be solid for just a blink
right in front of me
I would tell you directly
face to face breath to breath
stop pushing
everything
everywhere
because a rose
wind
is also
no small thing
This poem is copyright (©) Zaro Weil 2023
About the Writer
Zaro Weil
Zaro has been a lot of things: dancer, theatre director, actress, poet, playwright, educator, quilt collector and historian, author, publisher and a few others. She has been collecting American quilts for more than twenty years and has exhibited her collection variously in London galleries. She has written on quilts for Vogue, Elle Decoration, Traditional Homes and Interiors as well as numerous newspapers. Her poetry for children has appeared in many anthologies. She has written several books including a book of children’s poetry, Mud, Moon and Me (Orchard Books, UK and Houghton Mifflin, USA), Firecrackers (Troika) illustrated by Jo Riddell and Cherry Moon (2020 CLiPPA Award Winner).
