The Rose of Red, the Rose of White

rosa alchemilla, rosa imaginalis

Since today is Sunday and I’m feeling wistful, and since Matthew Livermore just published a lovely meditation, The Moment in the Rose Garden (in which he renders me the great honor of a mention) on his excellent Substack, I thought I’d post this poem from Mythologies of the Wild of God.

I also have some room in my upcoming course, Shakespeare, Magic, and Religion if that interests you (but it’s filling up). In addition, I’m posting below a recent YouTube video I did on astrology and politics. Like it or not, we live in interesting times.

THE ROSE OF RED, THE ROSE OF WHITE

The red rose at the center of the black cross
Color bleeding from the dark of light 
For the traveler must find form to appear.

The cross’s roots reach like those of a tree
To the center of the earth where Thalia,
Dressed in greenery and stars,
Sings a song of lamentation.

The cosmos spirals to the center of the rose—
Or does the rose spin the cosmos outward?
Golden pistils, golden stamens 
And bees the size of robins adorned in pollen

And propolis, “on behalf of the city”— 
A consolation for those afflicted by civilization
And for their sins of complicity.

The clouds, the foam in the ripples of the stream
Where the water trembles over rocks in eddies
And spirals, lemniscates that appear and disappear. . .

The rose, the white rose:
Kalos, the calling of the soul 
Like the windsong through the branches
And my mouth full of beads.

A halo of green, almost flame,
The flower garden and apple trees
Espaliered into an enclosure, 
Lavender and thyme trimmed into a hedge. . .
And at the center a well. 
Deep green moss adorns the circling stones.

In spring the blown petals of the apple blossoms
Sprinkle the face of the water,
Sink into the darkness,
And the sun glints from the surface
Bowing before the opening of the rose.