I feel as though people

(myself included)

should come with signs, as in

“thorns included” or, quite simply,

there may be thorns

so that the lovely sharers of our planet

men, women, small earthly beings

with big and small ears, the loud ones

and the ones who pass by quietly with a shy smile

might not complain when,

stopping by woods on a snowy evening

with robert, frosty though that may be,

they stop to admire the loveliness of colors

touch a wayward stem, and ouch!

a thorn, a small droplet of red red blood

and I, the rose, unwittingly, because there was

no sign

have once again caused pain…