The Red-Black Rose (Italian Sonnet) Poem by Gert Strydom

(for Annelize)

In the world the tempest of the rain and wind was strong
and while the summer sun was white hot and high
like an angel you my precious love did catch my eye
while a red-black rose its perfume gave and wilted young

while under a cobalt-blue sky its fragrant beauty hung,
you spoke to my heart and soul while days passed by
but broken into pieces my heart did far too many tears cry
as destiny on its tumult way swept over it and went along

while my poems did my joy, love and woes record
while like a dying thing our love was almost spent
yet after more than three decades it does survive still
and still our love do grown by its own accord
but like everything in life it is far too evanescent
and yet its essence do still all of these pages fill.

© Gert Strydom