AuntiPode
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First, I have to admit composition is in the last analysis subjective, once you look beyond hide-bound Pictorialist "rules". To me what matters is does the image have a dynamic feel that pleases me. I try to compose, crop and adjust each image until it matches what my mind's eye wants it to be, within the bounds of the original capture and my PP tools and skills.
If I had to explain reasons for my intuition, I'd say to my sense of composition, the shadow of the upper cross beam and the highlighted top of the lower cross beam give the flower a dynamic sense of emerging because they are expanding when they meet the rose. With the ordinary Pictorialist "rules", the eye would be expected to follow the converging lines and be lead away from the rose. For this image I felt the suggestion of emergence over-rides the temptation to follow convergence away. Also, the converging lines were obviously not going anywhere visually interesting. Therefore, any wandering eye should be drawn back to the rose. To make the lower or upper lines meet at a corner would look to me contrived. To my sense of composition it would also unbalance the image by changing the position of the rose in the frame. Although the position of the blossom isn't at a rule of thirds nexus, for this image its position yields a stronger composition to my eyes.
Obviously, when we deal with the subjectives of a personal sense of composition, there is no absolute right or wrong. What matters to me is the visual gestalt of the image. Does the whole "work"? Does it "feel" right? Does it feel balanced? Does it express the meaning I feel for it? My sense of what's "right" is influenced by traditional visual values, but it also reflects my sense of personal visual style - how I express my intuition of what an image ought to be. (Often it's somewhat different than what the camera "saw".)
I freely admit I make photographs for my own satisfaction. An image may be right to me, but to someone with a different sense of style, it my be right or may be less than optimum. Ideally, a strong image will appeal to people with different individual styles by expressing some sort of visual common ground. I'm curious whether my visual sense resonates with others or not. When an image can be improved or doesn't work for someone, I'd like to know or know why.
Sometimes I ask for C & C because there's something amiss about an image upon which I can't put my finger. OTOH, I asked for C & C on this image *because* I was unusually pleased with it. When an image feels that right ... is perhaps when independent C & C is most useful. 
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