The Fighting Red Rose - A Non-Averse Verse
By Gus Kilthau
@Ceerios (4698)
Goodfellow, Texas
August 5, 2016 11:56pm CST
The Fighting Red Rose
Once a rose grew in our garden.
It grew both day and night,
and though the bugs did all their best,
our rose knew how to fight.
Beetlebugs jumped stem to stem,
on which rose thorns were pointing,
and there it was that beetlebugs
met up with bug disjointing.
Time went on as time can do
and rose grew all the bigger,
big enough to make us go
for our steel rose plant digger.
Our little garden was too small
for great big, sharp-thorned roses.
So, with our digger, out it came,
its top part and its toeses.
It saddened us to pull our rose.
We liked its bright red beauty.
and how it handled beetlebugs,
as though that were its duty.
The day we dug our flowering rose,
and as its roots came out,
our rose began to whirl and dance
and jump 'round and about.
Our rose, we thought, was fussing so
to stay as main attraction
within our little garden and
that this caused its reaction.
Now its gone for good and all.
From us our rose has parted,
leaving us and all our bugs
still here, but broken-hearted.
* * * * * * * * * *
Image source: Gus Kilthau
* * * * * * * * * *
4 people like this
4 responses
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
6 Aug 16
poor rose bush, what a fate when 't fought such a battle'n came out'n top.
1 person likes this
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
6 Aug 16
@crazyhorseladycx - Our growing-too-big red rose did not even come close to those "multi-flora" roses we used to plant when I worked at the conservation department. You could plant them down the center of one of the divided freeways such that when they matured, you could not drive an auto through them going at top speed. They were there as impenetrable barriers. Tough plants, roses. 
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
6 Aug 16
@Ceerios lol, i hear ya there! i've a few that've survived the odds - 8 years 'f drought, gophers 'n those pesky grasshoppers. i've 2 roses similar to those ya mention planted 'long that divide. keepin' such semi-tame (i love that wild look, lol) requires much safety gear! they'll eat'cha 'live otherwise. :)
1 person likes this
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
7 Aug 16
@crazyhorseladycx - A rose thorn a day keeps the beetlebugs away. Way back in time I planted some mutiflora roseplants 'twixt a friend's house and their not-so-nice neighbor kids. Worked like a charm.
1 person likes this
@lingayako (235)
• Marikina, Philippines
15 Aug 16
Your composition made me sing "You treat me like a rose" by A1...Noce poem of yours, buddy.
1 person likes this
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
15 Aug 16
@lingayako - Ms Mar Lene - If I caused you to sing, you make me happy enough to sing along with you. My favorite song is "You scream, I scream. We all scream for ice cream." (A tasty song if there ever was one, right?) 
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
6 Aug 16
@jaboUK - Ms Janet - "Big" is not always "Best." This particular digging-out was conjectural, and Rosie is still in the middle of things. Actually, I was playing around with some old pix and, having played with them sufficiently, it seemed to be within logic to extol them a wee bit with a few words. By the way, our buddy, "@PGN" seemed to believe that this little rhyming thing was right up your alley - anyway, he told me that. Not only are your deals more fun to read, they usually make more sense, too.
1 person likes this
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
7 Aug 16
@jaboUK - Ms Janet - As I have often explained things to my bride, kids, and the rest of the tribe, it is best when dealing with Gus to believe that which seems to be best for you and to hope, always hope, for the best. You see, Gus believes in the advice of that sage of wisdom, past, present, and future, (the good Doctor Pangloss) to wit: "Don't worry. everything works out in the end..." 
1 person likes this
