Red

As I walk down windblasted downtown sidewalks, I see something red flash up, caught in the wildness of the breeze. A rose, a solitary flower, unends and petals shed as it rolls and floats toward me. I catch it; the wind dies for second as I look into the exploding folds of the petals for some kind of explanation of how this beautiful creation could withstand the gales and howls and sweeping wind to cut around unkind buildings and darkened streets, how it could bypass danger and depression and disregard in the faces of those passers that look only at themselves, and find me. This radiant, advertureous rose found me...I'll cherish it.