on knowing and roses
my mother asked me to take care of her rose bushes for a bit.
i have never liked roses, their scent or their appearance, even after years in the rose city. still, i was happy to help. (it was a chance to play gardener.)
after a morning walk with the pup, i found the trimming shears, took off my sandals, and settled in among the roses.
as i trimmed the dead and dying roses so the plant would flower again, i couldn’t help but marvel at them.
the flowers were varying shades of pink: pale pink to deep rose. the petals were soft to the touch.
the roses that were past their prime had a brown tint around the edge and the entire flower seemed loose and floppy. when i brushed against a dying rose, its petals fell to the ground like a gentle spring shower.
the air around the rose bush vibrated with the buzz of yellow & black bumblebees. we worked together, their bodies and my fingers circling each other in a simple dance.
from time to time, i paused in my work because my flower was already occupied.
i’d watch the bumblebee move slowly and clumsily around the yellow pollen. when it was done, it would lift off and fly over to a new flower while i snipped the stem of the rose it had already tasted, just below the petals.
as the rose fell at my feet, i’d wonder if the bumblebee noticed it was gone.
an hour later, the soles of my feet were black, the earth was carpeted in pink, and i was in love with roses.
later that afternoon, i read a line in the book the shack that seemed to explain everything.
“so many believe that it is love that grows, but it is the knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. love is just the skin of knowing.”
i now know roses as the wonder that they are, and i am delighted to have made their acquaintance.
Oh, this is lovely, Elizabeth…such freshness and honesty. I’ve always loved roses, myself–roses and orchids. :o) Enjoy your time snipping, smell and dancing with the roses. ((HUGS))
Some times we have to get into something with our hands and feet before we fully appreciate it.
I love this! So many things know and fall in love with. A great concept to apply to people we decide we aren’t interested in knowing – but when we do get to know them we can’t help but love them.
Tracy: I feel like you could (or have) take the loveliest photos of roses. (And I am enjoying it! I might actually want rose bushes someday. Or plants to play with. It is so fun.)
Jerry: So appreciating your thought/wisdom here. I was thinking about wonder when I wrote this, and how wonder comes from presence; when we are working with our hands + feet, I think we are much more present.
Kimberley: So so so true. Must remember this.
how odd.
i love all bees… to watch them work…
and to just be near them.
although i have never liked roses either.
to me the idea of their beauty encased by thorns… well… not so beautiful.
once i had one driven deep into my finger when i was little. it may have started then.
but your heart transformation for them is very touching. a lovely lovely post e.
xoxo♥
That makes sense to me! It would be a painful memory. I was surprised that the thorns are not closer to the flowers; I only run into them when I clip the low roses in the back, because I have to reach through the middle to access them.
I don’t even know what to say here, Elizabeth. You are such a poet. I don’t just mean with words, but with your camera, and in your heart. Deep in your beautiful heart.
Your words have landed in my heart like a blessing. Thank you, dear Relyn, for the gift.