The first poem is for her friend who lives here in Reno, and I titled it "Desert Rose". She wanted me to title it "Rose of Reno" because this friend reminders my wife of her closest friend from the Philippines, whose name is Rose. It can be found here:

http://formlesspoet.blogspot.com/2012/06/desert-rose.html

The second one is for that friend from the Philippines, and since it's connected to the previous poem in a way, I titled it "Tropic Rose":

http://formlesspoet.blogspot.com/2012/07/tropic-rose.html

I hope this will be okay. I've been interested in how people who are familiar and close with the plants would respond to these two sonnets.

In "THE QUEST FOR THE ROSE" by Phillips & Rix they tell how William Simpson, visiting Omar Khayyam's grave in Nishapur, found it covered with roses as the poet had predicted. He collected the seeds & took them back to England. A rose raised from them was planted on the great translator/poet Edward Fitzgerald's grave. Poet Edmund Gosse wrote some verses that were recited at a ceremony to plant the rose.
Part goes:
Reign here, triumphant rose, from Omar's grave,
Borne by a dervish o'er the Persian wave;
Reign with fresh pride, since here a heart is sleeping
That double glory to your Master gave"

That rose is the damask "Omar Khayyam". Isn't that a great story!

Thanks for sharing your sensitive, expressive poetry.

Bluegirl, I like your quotation too, and the mention of another fine rose variety, Omar Khayyam.

I'm glad you two read and that you appreciated the effort. And to the rest of you who have viewed (there have been like 40 views from this page on each of these poems), thank you for taking the time to read. A poet wants nothing more than to see his work being read. :)