Pitimini

My mother called them pitimini roses—
pitimini, pitimini, she'd croon as she worked
on pots and garden beds—miniature blooms 
that have been bred to bud smaller than regular 
roses, but in just as many colors. Only much later
did I realize these are the kinds that nurseries
label "petite minis" — some of them thornless,
or only sporting milder prickles that can still
embed themselves on the surface of a finger.
The saying goes, a rose by any other name is
just as sweet—but as she worked, talking to
her roses, I sometimes thought that she 
was really saying pity me, pity me—which is why
they let her pluck and gather them in her hands.