The Archaeology of Love

This morning on my way to work I found this faded bunch of roses lying half hidden in a bush a block from the Dupont Circle Metro. How did it get here? Perhaps it was cast aside by a frolicking romantic couple as they waltzed through the city in elegant clothes, their romantic passion already raised to such a pitch that the flowers that started the evening had become superfluous, and throwing them into the bush was another erotic gesture. Or perhaps it was quietly dumped by a frustrated suitor, who either never got the chance to give the flowers to his intended or lost his nerve and grimly cast them aside as he set off to walk the sidewalks alone. Or perhaps the suitor did present them, but to an intended who did not want them and took the first available chance to slip away, ruefully or angrily discarding this symbol of love's perversity.