Shadows

The sunlight leaves a crosshatch pattern on the floor, like the tic tac toe we played as children. It's almost charming, until you see the bars. They were built to look like trellises from the outside, with climbing roses planted at their base—the roses refuse to cooperate. In their stubbornness, the roses have not grown up, but together into one large mass that chokes out the buds and leaves the branches to dry and fall away.