January 29, 2013 (Tuesday)
“A rose is a rose, or is it?” — Quote me if you like
Every so often I have one of those “where have I been all my life?” moments. Today I had one of those moments when I discovered that “the rose family,” a medium-sized family of flowering plants, boasts about 2830 species, and members of the family are plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds!
Shakespeare wrote in “Romeo and Juliet,” “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” If he had known that peaches are part of the rose family, he might have written, “a rose by any other name would be just peachy.”
Evidently the poet, Robert Frost, knew all about the rose family because he wrote a poem about it:
And was always a rose.
But now the theory goes
That the apple’s a rose,
And the pear is, and so’s
The plum, I suppose.
The dear only knows
What will next prove a rose.
You, of course, are a rose–
But were always a rose.
When John Kennedy was president, he invited Robert Frost to the White House and their meeting was televised (in black and white); I saw that broadcast. I’m pleased to be able to say I saw and heard Robert Frost quote some of his verse, even if it was via television.
When I was in high school, I went to a statewide competition by reading “Mending Wall,” by Frost.
If you feel out of touch with your world, read some of Robert Frost’s poems; he will put you back in touch with nature. And remember, the Bible says, “the earth is His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).