Chatterbox: Inkwell

New poem!! I just wrote this poem and would like some feedback/comments/critques/etc. :) Thanks!

The roses are blooming,

And every way I look

I’m surrounded by the

Blood red of the flowers.

Their beauty is ethereal;

Their scent intoxicating.

Laying in the soft grass,

With roses on every side,

It’s easy to forget

That there is war and hate

And evil beyond these

Bright red velvet petals.

It’s easy to let every

Thought float away on the

Gentle breeze, and forge

That there is even a world

Outside the roses.

Gunshots and shouts reach me,

Cutting through the quiet

Like a dagger; shattering

Silence like glass. I pay

It no mind. Let soldiers

Come; destroy everything.

Let a comet hurtle

Towards us. Let a fire

Turn the tired world to ash.

I care not what approaches

For I know that if I

Am to die today I

Will return to a world

Of love, and peace, and joy.

A world where everyone

Is part of one greater

Whole, and all are equal.

The noise abates; recedes,

And still the roses grow.

But I know that silence

Doesn’t last very long.

Soon I will be forced out

Of my hopeful state

Of mind, where I’m enclosed

By the blood red roses;

Those sweet smelling flowers

The color of all life.

Soon I must leave this place

And find my way somehow

Back to the real world;

That place of dark intent

And cruel defeat, of hate

And spiteful jests without

Reason or sympathy.

I will be a lantern.

I will create a light

And be for others what

Red roses are to me.

I will become a gleaming

Beacon, giving others

What this world needs the most.

I will be a shining sun

To help fight back the shadowy

Dark cast by unkind souls

That wish to bring us down.

I will not stop, though I

May stumble, and when my

Feet fail me, there will be

Loved ones to help me get

Back up. I will not end

My quest until I triumph.

The dark can come and try

To get me to give up,

But never will I halt.

I will create a loving warmth

Where coldness was before.

And I will try until I fail,

And then I’ll try again.

I will not waver from

My path while on my journey.

And when I feel as if

Pain is all there is, and

When I feel I cannot

Carry on, I’ll remember

Those red roses and I’ll

Walk on to teach the world

That there is more than hate;

That there is always hope.