Sweet Rose

In New Orleans, where shadows dance ‘neath cypress draped in moss,
Two souls entwined, in fleeting trance, did bear love’s heavy cross.
Magnolia, with her raven hair, and eyes like twilight’s flame,
And Rose, whose laugh could rend despair, yet bore a secret shame.

By bayou’s edge, where willows weep, they met in moonlit hush,
Their whispered vows the night would keep, amidst the jasmine’s blush.
No priest would bless their ardent bond, no church their love anoint,
For in that city, old and fond, such hearts were deemed a taint.

In Creole halls, where lanterns glow, they stole their moments sweet,
Each touch a spark, each glance a woe, where forbidden lovers meet.
Yet eyes of scorn, like vipers, watched, from balconies above,
And tongues of venom, cruelly notched, condemned their tender love.

The Vieux Carré, with jasmine air, held secrets dark and deep,
Where voodoo chants and spectral glare did guard the night’s cold keep.
A curse was wrought by jealous kin, who saw their love as sin,
They called on spirits, old and grim, to tear their hearts within.

Sweet Rose was seized by fever’s grip, her breath a fading sigh,
Her lips, once red, now pale did slip, beneath a storm-wracked sky.
Magnolia knelt by her bedside, her tears like rivers flowed,
She clasped her love, as darkness cried, and death’s cold hand bestowed.

The graveyard, cloaked in mist and dread, received dear Rose’s form,
Her tomb, with lilies overspread, lay silent in the storm.
Magnolia, lost to grief’s embrace, did haunt the bayou’s shore,
Her wails a dirge, her anguished face, a light to shine no more.

At midnight’s toll, when spirits roam, she sought her love’s lost shade,
Through swamps where gators softly moan, and ghostly lanterns fade.
A vision came, in gossamer, of Rose with eyes of woe,
She reached, but air was all that stirred, and left her heart to know.

O cruel fate, with sable veil, why rend such love apart?
Thy bitter tide doth ever sail, to drown the tender heart.
The stars above, in mute disdain, no comfort deign to send,
They watch Magnolia’s endless pain, where love and loss contend.

In New Orleans, where shadows fall, her ghost yet lingers near,
By crumbling walls, she softly calls, for Rose, her only dear.
Beneath the cypress, draped in gloom, their love’s sad echoes sing,
A requiem in the city’s tomb, where broken hearts still cling.