A beautiful rose flower has fallen dried

Flowers reflect our emotions and moods. Leo Buscaglia has written, “A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.”

by Anwar A. Khan

Egyptian-American author Suzy Kassem has written, “Love is a flower that should never cease to grow. Nurture it,and it will outlive you. Neglect it and it will wilt away and die.” I assumed she was just another aspiring business executive as I sauntered up next to her at a famous eatery at Zamek Zabreh when I was on an official trip to Prague more than a decade ago. She had the bright Czechoslovakian look, wire-rimmed glasses and yellow number 2 pencil through the hair bun. Four hefty manuscripts cradled in her left arm and three flash drives hung from her neck.

The rose that fallen 

I spoke to her in the same restaurant who sat beside me after a few days. There were lovely interactions between us which I still can’t forget. She is Professor in Anthropology with a PhD degree and has been teaching in Charles University in Prague. She used to write in the Newspapers there on various issues especially marked by humanistic values and devotion to human welfare. She is Laura, Rodina Novakova.

She loves flowers. In one conversation with me, she asserted that in the midst of a string of intensely hot days, some rose bushes will become very stressed, even with our best attempt to keep them comfortable and well-watered. These rose bushes will start dropping leaves for no apparent reason and because quite a bit of alarm for the rose loving gardener. It is actually the rose bush trying to create better cooling airflow for itself.

By dropping some of its foliage, the rose bush increases the open area for air to circulate around its canes in an effort to cool down.Sometimes all that foliage is just way more than the rose bush can possibly support and keep healthy under severe heat stress periods. So, the rose bush starts dumping foliage in an effort to keep only that foliage which the root system can adequately support with moisture, plus just enough to provide what the roots need to keep the overall bush alive and as healthy as it can be.

Like Goldie Hawn, she believes, “The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one. But it will only grow in the mud. In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud --- the obstacles of life and its suffering. ... The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life. ... Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles: sadness, loss, illness, dying and death. If we are to strive as human beings to gain more wisdom, more kindness and more compassion, we must have the intention to grow as a lotus and open each petal one by one.”

Thérèse de Lisieux is true to her soul. If a little flower could speak, it seems to me that it would tell us quite simply all that God has done for it, without hiding any of its gifts. It would not, under the pretext of humility, said that it was not pretty, or that it had not a sweet scent, that the sun had withered its petals,or the storm bruised its stem, if it knew that such were not the case.

She invited me to her place on many occasions whenever I was in Prague on official business trips for the company I have been working. With the passage of time, we became very good friends. I found she was the dearest and most beloved lady to me in the world. The world is dark and sad for me when she was away for too long. When she was with me,I felt that I was the happiest man in the world. She is the air that I breathe, without which I cannot go a second.

When she was close to me, there was a flame burning inside my soul that warmed me and gave comfort. I feel so comfortable when she hugged me. I confess that she is an extraordinary and wonderful mystery! Our hearts beat was in unison. Our purest feelings make the fuss around us invisible... Happiness is to know and feel that we have each other!If she lives a hundred years - I want to live a day less because I think I cannot survive without her... Everyone can hear what she says but only I will hear her silent...

My eyes have seen heaven with her, and my heart saw the light brighter than the sun. I liked her incredibly beautiful eyes that look at me with tenderness and care.Only she can always understand me, only she can share her thoughts, her laughter and tears. Some people cannot find their soul-mate during the entire life, but I met in my manhood and I thought that we will never lose each other.I thank God and fate for her. She is like my Angel...

Suzy Kassem’s words look furtively into my mind, “Love has a way of wilting or blossoming at the strangest, most unpredictable hour. This is how love is an uncontrollable matter in the form of a flower.The sun does not always shine on it.Nor does the rain always pour on it. Nor should it always get beaten by a storm.Love does not always emit the sweetest scents. And sometimes it can sting with its thorns.Water it.Give it plenty of sunlight. Nurture it and the flower of love will outlive you.Neglect it or keep dissecting it and its petals will quickly curl up and die. This is how love is: Perfection is a delusional vision.So, love the person who loves you unconditionally, and abandon the one who only loves you under favourable conditions.”

Flowers reflect our emotions and moods. Leo Buscaglia has written, “A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.” I looked for her in Prague and elsewhere during my last three visits in Czechoslovakia, but nobody could tell me about her whereabouts. Her phones and email address are found dead. I feel very sad. “Love is like dried flowers sometimes. Even though you watch the petals shrink and change colour, you cannot help treasuring them.”

I want to encourage women to embrace their own uniqueness. Because just like a rose is beautiful, so is a sunflower, so is a peony. I mean, all flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that's like women too.One rose says more than the dozen.

To the most beautiful lady that I have known whose unconventional charms are so sweet and whose laugh is the highlight of my day. How I wish I could sweep her off her feet? To the most beautiful lady that I have known whose smile brightens my days and warms my heart and whose energy encapsulates me.

Oh, how I miss you when we are apart. The most beautiful lady, that I have known, who, though I have not known for long at all. Has, somehow made my heart so fond of hers. How very magically I am enthralled? To the most beautiful lady that I have known, I wish I could assemble the right words to tell her the feelings I have for her, but, dear, if I told you, would it be heard? To the most beautiful lady that I have known, you may never know how I feel for her. I wish I had the courage to tell you that I have been waiting for a lady like her. A beautiful rose flower has fallen dried. Laura, if you are gone, I must carry on.

-The End –

The writer is an independent political observer based in Dhaka, Bangladesh who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs