On roses In memoriam
to Benigno Sola
who loved roses
They first came upon me
unawares in Ayat
those vicious overgrown
roses that climbed
the stone wall
of the old farm
they suggested beauty
beauty in extremis
and passion carried away
into abandon
but planting roses
in my garden
my own roses
to care and to love
was not a notion
I had grasped
I thought and said
roses are old-fashioned
too stiff and dainty
for me
my garden is rustic
and ought to blend
into the rolling stony
land that stretches
to the hills in the distance
rose gardens I thought and said
are things of the past
little did I know
how they grow on you
once you plant the first rose bush
that roses unlike other flowers
have a life all of their own
different every day
from every other day
different every season
from every other season
