Song of the Rose
The rose awakens ere the sky
Has wakened to the sun;
And we, my one true love and I,
Awaken with a tender sigh,
To love until the day has run,
And all our pains are done.
We part the burdens of the breast,
The weight of passing cares,
And gather roses, take our rest,
And count the ways that we are blest,
Each offering the other’s prayers,
In our old hymns and airs.
For, the sky looks down upon the rose,
The stars upon the sky, and God
On all things, and our hearts He knows,
And Fair Love’s face will He disclose
To those, in silk or leather shod,
Who soar, or search, or plod.
© Joseph Charles MacKenzie. All rights reserved. First published in Society of Classical Poets online, January 27, 2020. Society of Classical Poets Journal VIII (Rheteskew Publishing, 2020), page 86.
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