Compassionate Wish Poem by Sandra Feldman

A RED ROSE WITH A DEW DROP TEAR takes the place of EVIL. That last line after you zap evil left me breathless. I want to hazard some possibilities that this image suggests to me: First, I naturally think of literature: At the end of the COMMEDIA Dante portrays the community of PARADISO as a multifoliate rose, an image he found in Albertus Magnus; s writing: CHRIST IS A ROSE, MARY IS A ROSE, THE CHURCH IS A ROSE, THE FAITHFUL SOUL IS A ROSE. Where such beauty prevails how can there be a place for EVIL? Second, the rose symbolizes love, and evil can have no allure for those who possess their heart's desire. Third, Petals folded over petals, the rose is mysterious, its center hidden, and so we see only the margins and do not know its center. We live within the mystery the rose symbolizes.