Old Fashioned Rambling Rose

Traditional Rambling Rose by Bronwyn Hegarty 2020

 

She loved this rambling rose

it symbolised her kind of order

Smuggled in her bag from Wales

smiling innocence at the border.

No sniffer dogs back then.

Now it grows in my garden

deep pink double petals open to the sun

Spreading a wondrous scent

tickling memories of our Mum.

She will love it when she sees the photo.

No, she won’t remember the wildness

how she cultivated a garden from here and there

Propagating her own nature reserve of sorts

cutting, replanting, sharing the fare.

Insisting I fly home with plants in bags of dirt.

The colourful chaos grew too big in the end

and we helped her move to a manageable space

We took what she gave, keeping it light

not liking to see the change in her face.

Old fashioned rambling rose, shared, love remembered.

Bronwyn Hegarty, February 2020