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8 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, June 10, 2009 Basic Black by Arthur Black A rose is a rose is a rose - right, rose? O, my Luve's like a red, red rose... Robert Burns A divine bonding, that. Poet, firebrand and skirt chasing scallywag Rabbie Burns, Scotland's greatest (some might argue -- only) gift to Romanticism coupled with the most romantic flower that ever bloomed ­ the cheerleader of the Rosacea family, the not-so-common rose. I never appreciated the potency of the blossom until I bought a dozen longstemmed beauties for my own Beauty, a few years back. Fate had me on a bicycle that afternoon, pedaling through town. I had to make a few stops on the way home and I figured a bundle of roses left in the bike's basket might prove too great a temptation for passing Lotharios, so I carried the bouquet with me, nestled in the crook of my arm while I attended to my chores. I was treated like I was George Clooney. Total strangers beamed at me and chortled heartily as if I was delivering winning lottery cheques. "Who's the lucky lady?" one asked. Others congratulated me, held doors open; one even patted me on the back. Need I add that the smilers, congratulators, door persons and back-patters were all women? A powerful botanical ambassador, the rose ­ especially when presented, with appropriate fanfare, by the fella to the lady. There's a story about the French actor Paul Meurisse, a man renowned for being economical with his words -- so economical he made Marcel Marceau seem like a babbling Rush Limbaugh. Once, smitten with a young demoiselle, Meurisse went into a Manhattan florist's shop, attracted by a legend in the window that read: SAY IT WITH FLOWERS. Meurisse prowled around the shop peering at every bloom. Finally he selected a single, red rose and asked that it be delivered to the lady's address, accompanied by his card. "And is there any message?" asked the clerk. Meurisse thought for a moment, then took the flower and performed some artful pruning on the spot. He handed the face-lifted rose back to the clerk with a worried smile. "There you are," he said, "And even at that, I wonder if I haven't said too much." I like to imagine what the young woman must have thought when she received Meurisse's card -- along with a rose sporting only two petals. Roses ­ even all-but-bald ones ­ speak volumes and they captivate the minds of lovers and thinkers alike. Shakespeare asked: "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." And Matisse opined "There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose." Even though it echoed in the first half of her surname, the flower held decidedly less mystique for Eleanor Roosevelt. The famous author, lecturer and wife of U.S. president F. D. Roosevelt once told a reporter: "I had a rose named after me and was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: `No good in bed, but fine against a wall.'" The only other rose story I know involves my uncle Vincent. Uncle Vince is getting on a bit and his memory, to be charitable, isn't what it once was. Last week he and his wife had another couple over for dinner. They're all pretty much old school, so after dessert, the men sat around the dining room table with cigars and coffee while the women retired to the kitchen. "Had a great restaurant meal downtown last night," Uncle Vince told his pal. "Can't recommend it highly enough." "Really?" said the other man. "And can you remember the name of the restaurant?" Uncle Vince knitted his brow, rubbed his jaw, squinted. "Oh, man," he groaned, looking up at the ceiling. "What's the name of that flower ­ you know ­ the red one? It's got thorns? You see it a lot around St. Valentine's Day." The other man says "You mean, the rose?" "Yeah!" cries Uncle Vince excitedly. Then he turns around in his chair and yells into the kitchen: "Rose, what was the name of that restaurant we went to last night?" 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