Ripe or Rotten?

Ripe Roses

reaching out to touch the rose

it dissolves in my hand

cascading

petals of yellow and pink

carpet the ground

“Guess it was ripe!” someone laughs

a unique perspective - I only saw

beauty dissolve at my touch

perhaps my marriage is ripe

at my touch, will it dissolve

fall to the ground in a shower

of memories and heartache?

or will a bright rose hip form

giving promise of new life

in a different form, sustenance

against the bitter winds of the

long, cold winter that is old age