The Bitter and the Sweet

The Rose has thorns to warn us of the bitter and the sweet Like dreams of love and passion and how the two compete How bitter be the rose when it cuts us with its stings Yet we smell its sweetened perfume to dream of other things We know that when we pluck the rose its petals soon will fall Yet it is the nectars fragrance we covet to recall We may at times obtain the rose without its thorns to meet But would we ever learn of life the bitter and the sweet