Pre-Departure Poem 3 Poem by RIC BASTASA

did the white rose know
that the thorns
on her side
just below her petals
are the ones that make
her appear
pure and beautiful?

it is the logic
of contrast and the
art of elimination
that work out well
in making us
give the most
of what we are
and not the idealism
of the category
which only says what
we ought to be
we become because of
constraint and
necessity
and so here we are always
on the reconstruction
not because of the fulfillment
of desire
but because of the
prosperity and intensity
the industry of pain