how this picture
makes me think
of a man named luke
who wrote about his lord
who told him & other followers
to consider the lilies
that toil not, spin not
consider the rose, too,
admired by sister & grandchild
how its roots find home
in a pot so small
how it manages to bud,
then stand proud & tall
with little water, lots of sun
on a balcony up a windy hill
the rose has no name
except for a latin one
but it has a color though that draws
the eyes of sister & grandchild
another week & the velvety petals will fall
someone, maybe the baby's mother,
will pick them up, return them to the pot
till soil & crumpling petals are one
meanwhile, sister has gone a-toiling
like grownups are destined to do
grandchild is spinning
on her sunny balcony anew
& the rose, faded & gone by this time,
will array someone else's memo-ray
--Babeth Lolarga
Photo of Butones and her grandaunt Gigi Lolarga by Kimi Fernandez
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