Roses

They begin like any other flower

A single seed buried under the earth

Not sure of what it is just yet

Then it grows roots and turns into a sapling

A toddler of sorts

Just beginning life but not able to do much of anything yet

It keeps growing

Until it turns into the kind of rose we recognize

The flower we have fallen in love with over time 

Standing there

With its thorns as its protector 

But then

A gust of wind flows by

And a petal falls

And you notice

For the first time

How its petals are browning at the edges

Ageing 

You give it more water

More nutrients

But you know that it will die in the end 

All things do

The next petal detaches itself from the only home it's ever known 

And falls like its sibling did 

Slowly

And gracefully

And then 

Suddenly all at once 

All of them begin to fall to ground 

The ground that gave it life

Th ground where it first came from

It starts to decay to become nutrients for the other plants 

And it starts again