The duty of roses

Mandi, beautifully subtle rhymes here make this sound sublime -- though I'm tripping on those same lines and I wonder what you think of something like:

"Beauty a memory
of holding hands when roses
knew nothing of death." 

otherwise you're stuck with some superfluous words that actually detract from the smooth rhythms of the piece.  

Also, upon in the last line doesn't sound quite right -- what about something like "through hopeful tuned ears"?

You'll note I have no suggestions at all for the first half -- that's because it's quite brilliant