Dying Rose Poem by Lee Hepworth

So came of the dying Rose
of his weak petals—abeast
on the tongues of serpents.
To contain the array of decaying words, -
utterance due; mounting common men
as knights, noble to the dying breed,
were savages the portrayal of a man
I hath shed my skin and become another.
I seek to coat myself in colours of admirers’
but thou hast not upon me;
calmly speaking, “persuade me to see you
again, as the man you used to be.”