The Rose of Writing

to Tulio Mora

To court her,
to transplant her, poets,
to the white sheet,
to caress her thorn,
till it bleeds aroma
and colours with blushes.

Not in the garden,
the rose will live on,
but in the poem.

Arturo Corcuera, Perú
from “Noé delirante”, Alfaguara

Translation: Germain Droogenbroodt