The Petals... The Thorns...I the ROSE...

"And all shall be well and.. All manner of thing shall be well.. 

When the tongues of flame are in-folded.. Into the crowned knot of fire.. 

And the fire and the rose are one.” T.S. Eliot

I the Fire, I the Rose

the fire, the petals, the passions of creation
the light of the PRESENCE
brilliant be the towering flames
horrifying be its consuming fury
the rose, the gentle warmth of the glowing fire
the rose, the wrath of its piercing thorn
know I each as one and one as each
I the rose, I the fire
the passion, the pain, the PRAISE.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Photo Source: Esophoria Mystery School

For your added enjoyment...

Fire & the Rose Are One - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Rf9IRmg60

"The rose, by virtue of its beauty, shape and scent, has become the most commonly used floral symbol in the West. Angelus Silesius took the rose for an image of the soul. Once the insignia of ancient Goddesses, it was revealed to be of cosmic import, a semblance of divine power in its feminine splendour. It is in effect the symbol of the Divine Mother, and thus symbolises the chalice of life and love that is the soul. To gaze at the heart of a rose is to contemplate the truest living mandala. To look on this mystic centre is to be in the presence of holiness. "The rose each ravished sense beguiles", wrote Sappho, who called the rose the Queen of Flowers. A symbol cherished by our ancestors that has been handed down over millennia yet has power to move our spirits."

Esophoria Mystery School