Gedicht
Clare Pollard
OCTOBER ROSES
OCTOBER ROSES
OCTOBER ROSES
Roses this Octoberburnt red like plague posies —
rash for the world’s fever,
a curse on our houses.
But then you were born in
the season’s strange mildness.
My heart rose as you rose
in my arms, small witness.
With your nails as tiny
as droplets of spittle,
and your fragile mouth that
is like a dropped petal.
In far away lands there
are poor babies crying,
with milk-coloured eyes
that the black flies are circling,
and tree-tops are falling,
the birds falling with them.
The season is bleak but
new life can still blossom.
The October roses
burn, burn in the darkness.
Beautiful despite, no,
because of their lateness.
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Gedichten
Gedichten van Clare Pollard
Close
OCTOBER ROSES
Roses this Octoberburnt red like plague posies —
rash for the world’s fever,
a curse on our houses.
But then you were born in
the season’s strange mildness.
My heart rose as you rose
in my arms, small witness.
With your nails as tiny
as droplets of spittle,
and your fragile mouth that
is like a dropped petal.
In far away lands there
are poor babies crying,
with milk-coloured eyes
that the black flies are circling,
and tree-tops are falling,
the birds falling with them.
The season is bleak but
new life can still blossom.
The October roses
burn, burn in the darkness.
Beautiful despite, no,
because of their lateness.
OCTOBER ROSES
Sponsors
![Gemeente Rotterdam](/images/logo-GR_Basis_RGB_2021.png)
![Nederlands Letterenfonds](/images/logo-Nederlands-Letterenfonds-logo-RGB.png)
![Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds](/images/logo-stichting-van-beuningen-peterich-fonds.png)
![Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds](/images/cf_logo-zwart.png)
![Lira fonds](/images/logo-Lira_fond.png)
![Versopolis](/images/sponsors/logo_versopolis.png)
![J.E. Jurriaanse](/images/sponsors/logo_J_E_Jurriaanse_2020.png)
![Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie](/images/sponsors/logo_NL_fundedbyEU.png)
![Elise Mathilde Fonds](/images/sponsors/logo_EliseMathilde.png)
![Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot](/images/sponsors/logo_VanWijngaarden-Boot.png)
![Veerhuis](/images/sponsors/logo_Veerhuis_2.png)
![VDM](/images/sponsors/logo_VDM.png)
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère