I SAW ROSE AGAIN TODAY 1970 COWTOWN by TEXAS WATER

James Michael Taylor

Her name was Rosemarie Jean and I have lost contact with her. She wrote the poem I turned into Beneath the August Moon.

I SAW ROSE AGAIN TODAY

I saw Rose again today
And I recognized the way
My heart reached out
With unturned fingers
I saw Rose again today
I didn’t let my smile betray
Rekindled love within my heart
The feeling lingers

Well there was a time when Rosie
Held the strings that pulled my heart
It seems she still clings to
A thread or two
Hardly anybody knows
I don’t believe it shows

And I’m not prepared to say
I understand it
But I got my theories
There are things I know are true
Rose, I long to share with you
But Time was wrong
It broke our song
And left us weary

Well there was a time when Rosie
Held the strings that pulled my heart
It seems she still clings to
A thread or two
Hardly anybody knows
I don’t believe it shows

I saw Rose again today
I didn’t take the time to say
“It’s good to see you, Rose,”
But I coulda meant it.

I saw Rose again today
I simply smiled and turned away
I tend to business
I tend to my own business

And I saw that her dark eyes
And flashing smile are still the same
The way she moves,
She moved me deep within
Hardly anybody knows
I don’t believe it shows

I saw Rose again today
And I can’t begin to say
How she looked to me
And I know the reason
She has bloomed,
now she must fade
That’s the way a rose is made
Have I lived to love
And find my rose
Is out of season.

(c) 1970 Royal T Music

Today is September 12, 2023. I hadn’t listened to this song for many years. My cheeks are wet with tears. This was one of my 1st songs. My first try at writing a country song. Among all the artifice I see a beginning songwriter pulling it together without losing the honesty. The details. The moment. Catching that tension when life presents impossible choices.

I sent her this message on Facebook: Rosemarie Kempton I haven’t listened to I SAW ROSE AGAIN TODAY for years. Tears wet my face. It’s a budding poet’s tribute to a beautiful girl. “Her dark eyes and flashing smile are still the same…” You were my 1st muse.

This was the song that made my dad sit up and listen. He took the recording to a disc jockey in Portland. He took me to Nashville to play some songs to people on Music Row. He told people that I was the best songwriter in Texas.