Pierre Auguste Renoir, “Vase of Roses”
For a change of pace, here’s a Scott Bates fable about aspiration. We can climb high on the back of someone else or we can follow our own individual path. The way that offers guaranteed success and immediate gratification is not the one that leads to the most beautiful outcome. The poem reminds me of a passage in Robert Browning’s “Andrea del Sarto”: “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for?”
The Fable of the Rose and the Wisteria
By Scott Bates
An ambitious rose
Aspired to be
As tall as a nearby
Willow tree;
A Wisteria vine
In a better position
(Since she lived on the tree)
Had the same ambition.
The wisteria reached the top
And then
Was forced to climb back
Down again.
The rose couldn’t even
Touch the tree
But kept on growing
Hopefully.
Moral
The highest castles
In Iberia
Are seldom covered
By wisteria.
