As I farm the roses,
the first thing that I encounter
are the aggressive thorns.

If one wants to be loved
one should first send love,
painful as it is;
just as when I embrace the roses
the thorns pierce my chest,
or when I caress them,
they pierce my palms.

That is the pain
hidden behind the beauty and
fragrance of roses.

Each night, my wife and I
put on our glasses and
dig the thorns from each
other’s hands
with a sharp needle.

An acupuncturist comforted us
by saying that each time
we get poked by a thorn,
it has the effect of acupuncture
and will increase our lifespan.
And so we laugh loudly
and suppress our pain.

Today, the rose thorns
dig me out
from the uncertainty
of life.