Rose parings

Buds  in bullet cases
Rat-a-tat summer showers
Fire powder pinks at impregnable bowers 

Immaculate roses white as spite
Prettiest of piercing thugs
Blush with glee in grasping hugs 

Petal perfect in their skin
Fleshing out the orange stain
Giddy gilt of cheap champagne 

A florist's roadside rosary
Wishes wired on yellowing stems
Infidelity's mayhem 

And me a closet romantic
Mementoes of some full-blown lover
Pressed within a bible cover

Dug from the drafts as August finally puts on some sunshine here and joining up with others in Poetry Pantry #368