Crumpled Roses

by Emma Kennedy

- A poem about Valentine's Day

I bought some paper flowers once

from a market stall;

near London's Covent Garden

Image credit: engin akyurton Unsplash

in The West End

where all the best voices are heard.

They were over-priced

but beautiful, blossoming,

plastic fakes.

I loved them.

I had never had the flowers I wanted:

a brightly coloured bunch

with thorns and leaves and fir cones

from a dreamy, loving boyfriend.

Handsome and clever and kind.

And funny, like me!

He had bought them on his way home from work.

Usually on Valentine's Day,

I do something else instead:

I'm a swimmer, a singer, a runner, a writer...

I enjoy life completely...

and do everything I can;

which is enough, for me, anyway.

And so, this year,

I will happily open

my clean, wooden box

and take out a pretty floral bag.

I will wear my favourite perfume 

from Neal's Yard.

And I'll display, again,

the same old, crumpled roses.

***

Emma Kennedy

Emma Kennedy is an English Teacher and writer who loves life and writes about relationships and feelings. Crumpled Roses tells the story of a walk to buy flowers in London and is inspired by the opening of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. She wrote it after spending Valentine’s Day alone.