Joy, my wife, had asked me a long time ago if I would write a poem for Rose, one of her closest friends from the Philippines, but at the time I didn’t feel ready or capable of fulfilling her request. This is partly to do with the fact that Rose is an extremely special person and so I would not want to just write some poem for her, but a poem that actually did some degree of justice to her spirit, heart, and life.

After completing “Desert Rose” at Joy’s request for a friend of hers here in Reno, I realized that I might at last be ready to fulfill her original request. In fact, that poem is partially inspired by Rose as well, hence the title. Now this one is for Rose herself.

Tropic Rose

This poem has been published in my book an inkling hope: select poems, available in Kindle and paperback formats. Out of consideration for those who have purchased a copy, I have removed it from this post and online viewing in general. However, the above player can still be used to listen to it.

I used the rosa grandiflora cultivar called “cherry parfait” as the model for this expanded metaphor. This is my 6^th sonnet.