The Rose (V)

Cy Twombly, The Rose (V) 

acrylic on wood panel, 2008

99 1/4" x 291 1/4"

The Roses XXVI

Infinitely at ease
despite so many risks,
with no variation
of her usual routine,
the blooming rose is the omen
of her immeasurable endurance.

Do we know how she survives?
No doubt one of her days
is all the earth and all
of our infinity.

– Rainer Maria Rilke
translated from French by A. Poulin Jr.