ROSE GARDEN

Of what use will be a dish of roses to thee?  Take a leaf from my rose-garden.  A flower endures but five or six days  But this rose-garden is always delightful.  Sa'di, The Gulistan (“Rose Garden”) It was on a sunny day in the second month of May after moving to Osaka that I found the rose garden. Seeking a diversion from caring for my elderly mother-in-law, I wandered the streets of the city with no particular destination in mind until I came across it. Roses and people, both enjoying the sun on the cusp of summer. At home, my mother-in-law, being cared for on the cusp of mortality. The modern day flower thieves snatch the images of flowers with their digital cameras, smart phones and mobile phones in forms of megapixels. Even now, flowers bloom on their flash memory. I am amused at the thought of the tens of thousands of rose gardens, with countless roses that will never wilt, and will never drop their petals.