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| Rosa 'A Shropshire Lad' 19 August 2025 |
La rosa, - Jorge Luís Borges
la inmarcesible rosa que no canto,
la que es peso y fragancia,
la del negro jardín en la alta noche,
la de cualquier jardín y cualquier tarde,
la rosa que resurge de la tenue
ceniza por el arte de la alquimia,
la rosa de los persas y de Ariosto,
la que siempre está sola,
la que siempre es la rosa de las rosas,
la joven flor platónica,
la ardiente y ciega rosa que no canto,
la rosa inalcanzable.
The unalterable rose I cannot sing
That is weight and fragrance
That lies in a black garden in the high night
That belongs to any garden in any eve
The rose that blooms back from
The dull ash through the art of alchemy
The rose of persians and Ariosto
That is always alone
That is always the rose of roses
The young platonic flower
The blind and ardent rose I could not sing
The rose I cannot reach
In the middle of the last night I was thinking of my obsession with writing my blogs and scanning my plants. They are the only activities of my day, besides feeding my two cats and taking Niño for his daily walk. I was suddenly aware of another word that I have not used to describe this. That word is compulsion. Because I am about to be 83, I do remember being taught in my Austin, Texas high school around 1959 about the Leopold and Loeb case. A film was made that year called Compulsion which I saw many years later with my mother.
I have pretty well run out of poems associated with roses that I can mate in my blog with my scans. Somehow, to my delight, I had missed this wonderful but darkish poem by my favourite Argentine writer Jorge Luís Borges.
I was further delighted on how he separates all roses into one rose, a platonic rose that is perfection. To me every time I see a rose in bloom I see it as a perfection in itself.
I always mention how some roses and in particular this one have young shoots that are a beautiful tone of purplish red.