Naming the Rose

He had worked on this for years

Since they know they'd be childless:

To hybridise a thornless

And deep-scented damask rose.

She was always by his side

In the lengthening shadows...

This case is closed.

Ena Harkness, Constance Spry,

Emily Grey, Margaret Merrill,

Zepherine Drouhin, Aimee Vibert and Blanche Moreau -

All these spirits still survive in the act of the grower

(in peace and compassion he's...)

Naming the rose,

Naming the rose in the memory of sweetness.

Dedication to the call

And he offers up the hope

That love conquers all.

It's not easy to explain

How he felt at her passing

The very day on which

The most perfect bloom was full-blown;

Tender cruelty that she'd

Never share in this moment,

Naming the rose.

He takes her ashes to the seed-bed

And works them in gently

So that her soul will rise like sap

In the plants as they grow

And then whispering her name

Writes it out on the label,

Naming the rose,

Naming the rose

For the sake of her sweetness.

Naming the rose

In the memory of sweetness.