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About This Author
My name is Joy, and I love to write.
Why poetry, here? Because poetry uplifts its writer, and if she is lucky enough, her readers, too. Around us, so many objects abound to write about. Once a poet starts with a smallest, most trivial object, he shall discover that his pen will spill out what is most delicate or most majestic hidden inside him. Since the classics sometimes dealt with lofty subjects with a lofty language, a person with poetry in his soul may incline to emulate that. That is understandable. Poetry does that to a person: it enlarges the soul and gives it wings. Yet, to really soar, a poet needs to take off from the ground.
 
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Daily Cascade #1097859 added September 22, 2025 at 11:28am
Restrictions: None
Long Live the Rose that...
Prompt:
"Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared."
Tupac Shakur
What does this quote mean to you and what kinds of images does it bring to your mind?
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The first words that popped up in my mind when I read this quote were resilience, underdog, strength plus beauty. Isn't it true that, sometimes, success in its true meaning shows up, springing from a grim and tough background? To prove its point somewhat poetically to us, this quote uses two very effective metaphors. So let's look at those metaphors one by one.
Concrete: Harsh, strict, and sterile conditions that permit little or no growth. It means an absence of nurturing soil, sunlight, and steady water. Applied to us humans, poverty, discrimination, lack of opportunity, and physical and emotional neglect come to mind. Such an environment crushes anything delicate and prevents it from growing into a beautiful form.
Rose: Beauty, fragrance, and delicate petals. A symbol of life, hope, art, talent, success, a daring, strong individual spirit. How improbable it is for a rose to grow from concrete? This idea gives the image its power. This rose doesn't just survive but thrives and blooms in a place so against its own nature. This rose shows a strong innate drive and will to live and show its beauty by pulling up what it needs from some unseen sources and finds light where there is none.
Then, this addition, "when no one else even cared," is not only an observation of resilience, but also, it is a celebration of self-made victory. It makes me imagine this rose's initial isolation and its struggle. While other roses had a gardener, a protective fence, good soil, and plenty of water plus fertilizers, this rose had to find what it needed on its own in the worst place ever. Moreover, the lack of adoration and validation from any other source didn't discourage it, either. It excelled without any help from the outside, through its own strong will.
In this rose's case, I can see and hear a hint of accusation at an environment, or the society, which overlooks and dismisses some people while it elevates those who are born into good families and luckier circumstances. The entire quote also means that true beauty and inner strength often provide the power to rise from misery and hardships.
At the end, "Long live the rose" is a powerful statement as it is a celebration, a blessing and a wish for us to appreciate the dignity and power of people who overcome everything difficult and impossible. Especially, if and when, they bloom where no one thought they ever could.
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