Pennsylvania Rose

Once there was a rose,

Grown from farmland,

Pennsylvania.

Modest, hardscrabble

Blustered early by rabble,

Wanting, then rousing

To overcome, become more.

For this rose blossomed,

Every season stronger,

In radiance and will,

Burning red then pink,

Softened by time.

Fierce beauty

With sweetness,

Always sweetness,

Forged by steel.

Now fall comes winter,

Memories remain,

Sweetness lingers

Like pecan pie.

Hearty stalks with

Deep, broad roots

Now reach beyond

The brilliant bloom

Of a Pennsylvania Rose.

Ever growing

Beyond that first bloom

From farmland.

In remembrance of Grandma Dottie Van Dyke on her funeral, Oct 20, 2014

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