Today on the floor of a stairwell where I work I found a small handful of rose petals. Crushed, left for dead.

I work in a psychiatric hospital and so I am used to seeing blood, urine, and various other body fluids on the floor. I have found still burning cigarettes, discarded pills and personal notes. It would take hours to describe the things I have seen left behind. But until today I had never seen flowers.

Why is this so odd, so touching? The rarity of their appearance or their appearance at all?