Summer image

Willy Burkhard

I saw the Summer's last rose standing;

it was red, as if it could bleed;

then, shivering, I spoke in passing:

"To be so far in life is to be too near to death!"

Not one breeze stirred on that hot day;

only a white butterfly withdrew gently;

yet even though the beating of its wings hardly

affected the air, the rose felt it and expired.