A Rose by any other name
Is still sweet, I suppose,
And we will get to test the same;
For we have lost one Rose,
But in her place another came,
As everybody knows.
It's not an absolute exchange:
The job description shows a
Position that might be found strange
By Rose Marie Mendoza
Reserved for Adams; but its range
Of skills well suits that Rosa.
Rose Adams left us once, but rose
Again, and so that bloom
Yet flowers: though now the other goes,
We've still a Rose on whom
To call. Mendoza merely chose
To leave her growing-room.
So bid a sad farewell to one,
While welcoming the newer:
Though Rose Mendoza's work is done,
Our Roses grow no fewer.
'Tis well; for were we left with none,
We'd all be much the bluer.
Originally published in SUL News Notes, October 22, 1993.
c 1993, 1995 Fleabonnet Press for the author.