Variation on Roses

Written by Nuno Judice

Translated from the Portuguese by Ana Hudson

Narrated by Bill Wolak

Like the wild roses that grow in

any corner, love can also come

from where we least expect it.  Its field

is infinite: body and soul.  And, beyond them,

the world of sensations, that we enter without

knocking, as if the door was always

open for whoever wishes to go in.

You, who teach me what love is,

have gathered those wild roses: their crimson

color shines on your face.  Their scent 

flows down your chest, floods the estuary 

of your womb, climbs up to your hair loose

in a breeze of murmurs.  From your lips,

I steal their petals.

And if those roses do not fade, with 

time, it is because they’re nourished by love.