Invalidate The Thorns, But Relish The Rose Poem by Maurice Harris

You did not have to choose:
You did not have to lose
'The answer to your prayers'
Due the fears of the masses;
Perhaps you'll find, as time passes:
The heart that truly loves, dares
To make the dream real, and gains
More strength and verity every day;
Whilst, the heart that halts and reins
In its ardor, withers slowly in every way.
Even the most beautiful rose has its thorns-
So, invalidate the thorns, but relish the rose.
The heart that shuns its mate, silently mourns.
Look into your heart, ask that it again expose
The amorous amative it now hides.
Banished to nihility, the shunned heart yet abides.
As the rose, true love is perennial:
It does not stray, die, wilt, or wither.
To ignore this call is hopeless self-denial-
Look now to your own; dare deny it lives not, thither!