poem in progress part 2

Ode to the Rose

Come, let us talk of the

perennial flowering from a family

of thousands of cultivars;

forms and shapes

so strikingly dissimilar

that as we gained

familiarity with its form,

subdivisions were required for

a diversity unparalleled—

where evolutionary biologists

to this day try to answer how

such evolves fruit so contrastingly—

peaches, plums, cherries, berries and more—

all under the name artists know—

the shade and tint

of Aphrodite’s blood;

from the Latin rosa, borrowed from the Persian

and related to the Vedic;

native across the globe,

its cultural significance found in the vast

majority of our societies.

Leaves borne alternately and pinnate—

leaflets and stipules with serrated margin;

mostly five petaled, with some only four;

divided into lobes,

sepals beneath petals,

appearing as green points.

All parts edible raw,

flush with Vitamin C,

sometimes into jellies, jams,

and syrups for tea;

a distinctive flavor used in the world’s cuisine,

candied or turned into creams for confectionery;

used as medicine and in practices of spirituality;

pressed into volatile ingredients for cosmetics;

used for landscape, hedging and utility—

or simply the commercial cut crop, kept cool

until ready for display at point of sale.  

Dating to the Late Eocene, earliest known to Mesopotamia,

its hip with its hundred and fifty or so seeds,

eaten by birds and dispersed, where today's

originate from the Old Blush of 18th-century Asia,

thereby patronized by a European empress,

propagating collections numbering in hundreds. 

This ancient cultural history now symbol,

where goddesses protect the bodies of heroes

with its immortal oil, sometimes bedding them among blossoms,

or instructing characters transformed to beasts

to eat its petals in order to regain their humanity;

and with advent of Christianity it became identified the Virgin Mary,

leading to the rosary and devotional incantations.

Rose, Rosa, Rosetta, Rosina, Rosita—

beauty, bliss, joy, pleasure, love, life, and elegance;

praise, prayer, pride, secrecy, and silence;

wine, wisdom, woman, and worldly success;

charity, martyrdom, mercy, victory and love divine;

“I am true; love me, and you’ll discover it—

yours, heart and soul,” it says

in St. Valentine’s Day exchanges.

Grace, desire, pure and inclined to love; hope, promise,

reward of virtue, and secret to immortality;

blissful soul, heavenly joy, rejoice of faith;

from the fingers of the dawn goddess

to knowledge and law,

signifying truth to a Buddha.

Window to eternity,

are we worthy of you?