Familiar rose,
so implicated in our memories
as in a dream
where you advance upon your perfect form –
whose silence surpasses the choir’s
echo;
who triumphs in the rose window
or, held between two lovers, disappears.
Paul Batchelor is the author of “The Sinking Road” (Bloodaxe)
This article appears in the 28 Aug 2019 issue of the New Statesman, The long shadow of Hitler