by Dorothy Parker (1893～1967)
A single flow'r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet -
One perfect rose.
I knew the language of the floweret;
'My fragile leaves,' it said, 'his heart enclose.'
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.
Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.
This poem consists of three stanzas, each one has four lines, rhyming abab. The title is the refrain repeated at the end of each stanza. In the first stanza we can know that the author has just received a beautiful rose from someone, and she is very happy used the words such as deep-hearted, pure to describe the rose which stands for love in this poem. In the third line “with scented dew still wet” symbolizes that they have just started seeing each other , their relationship is new.
From the second stanza, the line "'My fragile leaves,' it said, 'his heart
enclose.'" infers that the man's emotion is easy to get hurt. "Love long has taken for his amulet" in this line the amulet means a piece of jewellery that someone wear because they think it protects them from bad things. it seems the man is afraid of developing their relationship into more serious . He thinks something bad might happen.
In the third stanza, from the limousine we realize that she wants something more than a single rose, because no matter how perfect the rose is , it always have withered fast, the same as their relationship. She wants real and lasting love. “One perfect limousine” symbolizes something serious like marriage, or a wedding car. In my opinion, the theme of this poem is the author’s complaint about her lover and also encourage him to take the initiative.
完全手打 絕非抄襲