There once grew a small rose bush in my garden. Once in a while, some beautiful red roses sprout out, probably thrice an year, I hardly ever took keen notice. But this one time, I did spot some three roses, blossoming beautifully in vigor and health, their color warm and red and their scent sweet and free. That there was a rare sight, normally all the roses got preyed on before I could lavishly get my hands on them.
In utter excitement, I plucked one while being careful of the not so gracious thorns, found a glass jar, half filled it with water, dipped in the long-stemmed red beauty and sat it by my bedside. It had found its home, I thought. And so I watched it day after day, felt the smoothness of its petals and cared for it in the only way I knew how. But as days turned to weeks, its blossoms became droopy, its color faded, its leaves withered and it shrank more and more, dying, leaving me flowerless. My heart ached for its life and because no one buries dead roses, I threw it away, back into the wild.
I was at a loss and so I went back to the bush and plucked one of the remaining roses. I saw its beauty but I didn’t feel the joy as I previously had. Somehow, I knew the beauty was short lived. Looking back, I should have enjoyed its life, after all, I had already decided its fate. It’s death came quick before I could celebrate its life. And so again I went back to the bush to pluck off the last rose. But this time I couldn’t, it felt wrong. Its death awaits, too short a life, I thought. Those past roses had bloomed, natured by Mother Earth, drinking from the rain and surviving the scorching sun. But I had wanted them close to me, for my own happiness but to them a peril.
And so I thought, why not get some seedlings, care for them, see them bud and bloom to fullness and no plucking this time!. That I did and I watched them blossom into their fairest self, wild and red, a beauty to behold. And yes, I did get prickled, more often than not. But they did get to live their rose life to the fullest, till death did us part; a natural death.
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