“Good things don’t come that easy… you want Roses, not thorns, take it home and plant it, you will reap from it…”
I have always been fascinated about Roses right from primary school. I have read about it flagrance and also admired it in pictures, white and red. But I never sniff it real life flagrance. Until that day, while I was in Jos, Plateaus State.
Last Sunday, I went out on a blind date with a friend. I can’t remember the last time I have gone out with a lady on a date! Well, I did meet ladies but no special arrangement like that. Beside I was a curious mind who likes to understand people deeply without getting unnecessarily emotional about it. As we talked in the garden about present and past, my mind suddenly went into deep meditation.
Whether my guest noticed this or not is certainly not my concern. I have always been known to lose myself to internal meditation even when the place I am is crowded with noise maker. I can always go blank when I feel. Though not totally. Those who are very observant will definitely know that I am lost into another world.
Yesterday, I was staring at this flower yet talking. Then my speeches started going more philosophical than social. Thank God for my guest she didn’t seem to mind. I was lost in the “Heart of Rose!” Looking at that flower kept my mind focus on Rose. I managed to finish the discussion and we parted.
Back home, I mentally journey back to 2002, when I first stumble upon real beautiful Roses - White and red. I never know that Roses can be white until that day. Well that is not the story.
My Friend, David Yerima who hailed from Adamawa but also staying in Jos, had gone to farm as usual. He is always in habit of going into bush to collect fruits and Tubers which we normally share. He was a farmer way back home before temporarily relocating to Jos.
Somehow, that day, he didn’t bring fruits as usual. He came home with flowers. A bunches of flower. My guess was right. He brought Roses from the farm this time. Seeing that it was my first real life contact with fresh natural Rose, I became more interested in the whole things. He then lectured me on how to cultivate it and promised to get me some bunches when I am going back to Lagos.
Unknown to me, there is much more to Rose than flower. I was dreaming already of how I will surprise my guardian (who love flowers) with Rose that we can now plant in his garden when I returned back home.
True to his words, Yerima brought bunches of Rose buds and Flowers as a parting gift for me. He is traveling that night and I will be traveling the following day. Both of us has no plan to return to Jos again as a result of the violence that has shattered the once upon a peaceful town.
As he handed over the bunches to me, I was pricked by thorns- Dangerous thorn that left me in pain for hours. I never imagine that the beautiful plant we all use as reference of beauty is actually hanged on thorny shoots. I wonder whether all Roses are like that. Unfortunately, I never ask him as a result of both my excitement and my dislike for the thorns.
Yerima laughed when he saw my situation. All he said was “good things don’t come that easy… you want Roses, not thorns, take it home and plant it, you will reap from it…” I didn’t ponder on his words. I simply asked him to take the stems and leave only a few plus plenty of Rose flowers both red and white!
He left that night, forgetting to tell me how I should handle the thorny shoots and how I can preserve the flowers on my long journey back home. It didn’t occur to me to ask either until he has left the flat leaving me alone.
The following day, my situation was clearer: I can’t possibly carry the shoots home. I don’t know how to handle the thorns and there was no phone to call Yerima who was by then gone. Of cause there is no one else who know about it around.
In frustration, I threw away all the stems and packed only the flowers. I wrapped them in polythene nylon and then proceeded on a 12 hours journey to Lagos.
When I arrived in Lagos, I noticed that the roses that I wrapped in the nylon are now withered and spoilt due to bad storage. I have to throw away everything and went home empty handed. No rose flower to smell and no shoot to plant. Worst still, I never hear from Yerima again till date and I have never seen such real beauty and flagrance till date. Sure, I see fake roses and plastic roses and plenty picture, these can’t compensate for the real things. It was a multiple lost.
No comments: