I.

Pressed between pages

Of a heavy book, a rose-–

Neither flourishes nor wilts.

II.

You planted me where

I'll never bloom. Uprooted—

Wilting among words.

III.

Like a pressed flower—

Trapped inside a storybook

That you chose for me.

IV.

You lied when you said

That I will smell as sweet by

Any other name.

Arshi Mortuza, author of One Minute Past Midnight, is an ESL teacher based in Canada. Her works have been included in Kitaab, Borderless,and World Poetry Today.