Rose tinted introspection

I stepped outside for a cigarette and heaven knows I’d made it a point not to do… at all but I was making an exception. One thing was for sure, I didn’t like to smoke around children or any bad habits for that matter.  Mon Amie was a tucked in her apartment as I used my moment to brood. Mon Aimee talked about the things that bothered us in both life and love.

                I looked to my right and noticed climbing roses growing wayward from a neglected iron work tresses. I thought of my mother at that moment. She had the golden green fingers of the gods. I, on the other hand could barely grow anything at all but there were a few things and as fate humorously would have it was the one thing my mother couldn’t grow. I could grow roses. It was something very simple, but I understood them. Wild roses and climbing roses were always my strong points.

                The trick in working with roses is in knowing how not to get pricked. Although, it always will happen, the trick is know the vine as well as the blossom and be aware of the danger. The newest thrones were always the sharpest and the least forgiving. The older thrones were tougher and not as easy to manipulate. I wonder what this said about my love life. Better yet, my life in general. I saw myself as this bush. Unattended, wild, beautiful and most importantly performed all these tasks with grace under fire.

                “You got any tape or wire?” I yelled after Mon Aimee.

                “I dunno,” she remarked. “Probably.”

                I tilted my head, resting the cigarette in my mouth with a frugal pout.

 The rose branches grew at an uneven angle and weren’t properly taken care of. At first I just stared it, trying to ignore the connection I felt to it. Too many people who tried to gain my love used roses to try to manipulate with something I used to love so much. Even when I told those suitors, no roses, they would just change to the color from red to pink or yellow. Any good memory I had with the plant was quickly demolished in the wake of lost lovers. Mr. Big never did that though. I wondered if the knowledge of buying a chuck of plant sex organs that were destined die was the thought on that one or if it had even crossed his mind at all.

Sex organs, I thought with a smirk. How messed up is that? Yet, it was something very thoughtful but at the same time were the people who gave them to me only thinking of sex when they were delivered or was it out of love. I’d be lucky if I ever looked at plants again. Pulling the cigarette out of my mouth I carefully set it on a nearby concrete ledge. The rose bush deserved better than this.

                I gently twisted the branches into place being careful not to snap any of the pieces. As far as I was concerned, these rose bushes didn’t need me to force them to become something thing I imagined because Nature would always find a way, I was just there to help it grow. My mother was always attentive to every plant she ever owned. She would remove the dead and useless parts with an acute precision were as I would leave just enough of the dead for the roses to remember which way to grow, to have a strong base and to embrace its roots while growing freely but all of these are debatable given my current tampering.

                There were major branched twisted and unruly that curved over the top. I picked up my near dead cigarette and took a final drag while I looked at my handy work. The vines were perfect except for the ones up above. I snuffed out the cigarette and headed back inside. I could fix this. I needed scissors.

                With those, I could cut the branches and squeeze the hole shut.

                “Hey, do you have a pair of scissors?” I walked and inside the house and asked.

                “No.” I could use a knife, I thought to myself. I could use cut the branches and leave the wound gaping open and the roses would still be alive.

“Yeah, some where.” My gaze flittered around the kitchen. No, I thought to myself. There was beauty in its flaws. Almost an aura of gyspy flavor made it breathtaking. Like it needed anymore help to be what nature intended. It was perfect in every way, even without my help. Nature had already found its way, I was just lucky enough to assist it.