Stem of the Hybrid Perpetual

for Lee Herrick
You hold the rose aloft.
You elevate.
If root is a secret
and rose a prize,
you are the telling.
In you the two are sisters.
Throat of happiness,
singer of flames, music
of wings and kites, your
pinnate leaves evoke
a strange bird’s flight.
Green road, you
begin in darkness
and end in light.
You touch everything.
You ascend.
You are the axis.
At your apex
a nation grows.
Suitor of heaven,
child of earth,
bearer of thorns and gifts,
you hold the rose.

Jennifer Tseng