A Jose Martí poem

Day 14

Saturday, day off.  As usual, just a day where the main thing I do is go to the gym but today was a little bit different since it was the birthday celebration of a friend where the "party" started at 1PM and finished way past 8PM.

It was a fun day for sure and at various points of the day I kept reminding myself how nice is to have a nice group of friends and the importance of friendship.  Weirdly enough, memories of my dad came rushing throughout the day, you see, dad is an avid reader and has always tried to highlight the habit to me.   When I was very young (5 years old or even younger) he taught me a poem by Jose Martí called "Cultivo una rosa blanca" (I cultivate a white rose) and goes as follows:

Cultivo una rosa blanca
En Junio como en Enero
Para el amigo sincero
Que me da su mano franca

Pero para el cruel que me arranca
El corazon con que vivo
Cardo ni ortigas cultivo
Cultivo una rosa blanca

Roughly translate as

I cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his hand frankly.

And for the cruel person who tears out
the heart with which I live,
I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns:
I cultivate a white rose.

When I was little, it didn't make much sense to me but as I grew older, and the figurative language started making sense I would see why my dad was so adamant that I learned the poem.  At the end of the day, the while idea of it is to be a nice person, even to your biggest detractors but mostly and mainly be loyal to your friends, and thankful for them.

Might that be a defect of mine? You know, not wishing ill to those who have wronged me? Some may consider so, but, at least for me, the ill wishing has never been part of my beliefs system, and especially when I was a "pendejito".  

Be thankful guys, I surely was today.

The spaceman-shaped cake

Miami as viewed from Puttshack

Location: Miami, FL, USA

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