By the sea, there is a cliff
Riddled with caves, intricate
And complex, wild and unexplored

A single beam of light
Illuminates the interior
Bringing light into the dark

It reveals flashed of color
White, and red, but mostly
Black and deep brown

Thick vines, prickly to touch
Form a deadly puzzle
As if protecting a treasure

Thorns sharp enough to slice
Yet wide enough to slip through
Offer a knife-lined pathway

The heart of the caves
Is inexplicable free of vines
And reveals more color

The moonbeam leaches color
From things already white
But cannot eliminate

A single bloodred rose reaches
For the heavens, unmindful
Of its uncouth perch

Its vine wraps tightly around bleached
Bones of someone long gone
Who went in and never returned

In a cave by the sea, a moonbeam
Shows bleached bones with
A bloodred rose blooming
Out of its heart