Themes :
Rose

Unlike the spiky radiance of the lotus flower, the rose unfolds in a gentle circling that invites one to yield inward. The rose is a symbol of lovers and of union. The rose resonates strongly with the gently awakened heart.

In the chakra system, the color most associated with the heart is green. But when we are in love the heart reveals its inner color: a warm rose hue.

The rose grows from a bush of thorns yet reveals a delicate inner beauty and shares an intimate, sweet wine-like fragrance, symbolic of how the soul emerges from the tribulations of worldly difficulty and, in so doing, recognizes her innate beauty.

The rose is a sacred symbol found throughout the mystical writings and poetry of Judaism, Islam, and especially developed in the esoteric Christian traditions. The rose is often used as a symbol of Christ. More precisely, it is a symbol of the soul that has recognized the presence of Christ.

The rose, with its wine-like scent and deep red color, is sometimes thought of as a more tangible embodiment of wine -- the drink of communion.

Sufi poetry often pairs the rose with the nightingale. The nightingale prowls the garden at night singing its mournful song, lost in its love for the rose. The nightingale is the lover, the seeker, the Sufi, and the rose is the Beloved, God.

The inner rose reveals itself in the heart when the individual soul completely and joyously opens itself to the Transcendent Reality.

The many Sufi references to a Rose Garden describe the awareness that occurs when God has taken up residence within the heart (or, rather, when we finally recognize the Divine presence already there). And dwelling there, God makes of the heart a living garden.

Poems with the theme of Rose

  AE (Russell, George William) Unity
  Anandamurti (Sarkar, Prabhat Ranjan) Oh unknown traveler, you come alone
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Dullard Sage
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Nightingale
  Barker, Elsa The Mystic Rose
  Basho, Matsuo The temple bell dies away
  Battacharya, Mahendranath Screening its face amongst lotus stalks
  Beni Raga Ramkali
  Berrigan, Daniel Credentials
  Broughton, James The Gardener of Eden
  Catherine of Siena We were enclosed (from Prayer 20)
  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement
  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor To Nature
  Dariya Sahib of Bihar Without love there can be no devotion and wisdom (from Love Chapter)
  Dogen, Eihei Wondrous nirvana-mind
  Emre, Yunus Oh disciple of love, open your eyes
  Fox, John Simple Living
  Francis of Assisi The Canticle of Brother Sun
  Ghalib, Mirza The drop dies in the river
  Ghalib, Mirza The Rose with its redolent petals
  Hafiz A New World
  Hafiz I feel this yen
  Hafiz Spring and all its flowers
  Halevi, Judah O My Lord, Your dwelling places are lovely
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Contemplation
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Walking Meditation
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Padmapani
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Interrelationship
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Please Call Me by My True Names
  Hawkes, Patricia Conversion
  Hayati, Bibi Before there was a hint of civilization
  Hayati, Bibi Is it the night of power
  Herbert, George The Flower
  Hildegard von Bingen O Euchari in leta via / Sequence for Saint Eucharius
  Hildegard von Bingen O mirum admirandum / Antiphon for Saint Disibod
  Hildegard von Bingen O virga mediatrix / Alleluia-verse for the Virgin
  Ikkyu (Sojun, Ikkyu) a well nobody dug filled with no water
  Iqbal, Allama Muhammad To the Saqi (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
  Islam, Nazrul Come silently like the Moon
  Islam, Nazrul O Nightingale!
  Islam, Nazrul Song of Dawn
  Islam, Nazrul Talk to me, javas, talk to me
  Jayadeva My heart values his vulgar ways (from The Gitagovinda)
  Jayadeva When spring came, tender-limbed Radha wandered (from The Gitagovinda)
  Jimenez, Juan Ramon Who Knows What is Going On
  John of the Cross Full of Hope I Climbed the Day
  Kabir Do not go to the garden of flowers!
  Kabir I burst into laughter
  Kabir The moon shines in my body
  Kalidas (Edwards, Lawrence) The mountain stands steady in its grandeur
  Kalidas (Edwards, Lawrence) What mind can possibly approach you
  Kamalakanta The black bee of my mind is drawn in sheer delight
  Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
  Khayyam, Omar [6] And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine
  Khayyam, Omar [8] And look -- a thousand Blossoms with the Day
  Khayyam, Omar [13] Look to the Rose that blows about us -- "Lo
  Khayyam, Omar [18] I sometimes think that never blows so red
  Khayyam, Omar [26] Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise
  Khayyam, Omar [48] While the Rose blows along the River Brink
  Ko Un In a Temple's Main Hall
  Krishnamurti, Jiddu I Am All
  Krishnamurti, Jiddu Song of the Beloved (from The Immortal Friend)
  Kuzminsky, Irina A Sequence of Embraces
  Lalan As the man and the woman in me
  Lalla Just for a moment, flowers appear
  Lalla What is worship? Who are this man
  Lawrence, D. H. And Oh--That The Man I Am Might Cease To Be--
  Lawrence, D. H. I Am Like a Rose
  Leon, Luis de The Life Removed
  Li Bai Alone and Drinking Under the Moon
  Li Bai Along the Stream
  Li Bai Clearing at Dawn
  Li Bai Self-Abandonment
  Lu Tung Pin Sojourning in Ta-yu mountains
  Machado, Antonio Proverbs and Songs
  Machado, Antonio Songs
  Maghribi, Muhammad Shirin The Moon of Your Love
  Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters
  Mechthild of Magdeburg Of the voices of the Godhead
  Meher Baba How Wonderful is the murderous mercy of God!
  Merton, Thomas Aubade -- The City
  Merton, Thomas Song for Nobody
  Merton, Thomas The Fall
  Meshullam da Piera Song at Dawn
  Milosz, Czeslaw Encounter
  Mirabai The Beloved Comes Home
  Misri, Niyazi Now No Trace Remains
  Mistral, Gabriela Song of Death
  Mistral, Gabriela The Rose
  Nasimi, Imadeddin Both worlds within my compass come, but this world cannot compass me
  Nematollah Vali, Shah Take one step beyond yourself
  Neruda, Pablo Gautama Christ
  Neruda, Pablo Tell me, is the rose naked
  Neruda, Pablo Too Many Names
  Nurbakhsh, Javad Desiring You
  Oliver, Colin Here I see no-one
  Oliver, Mary Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches?
  Oliver, Mary The Buddha's Last Instruction
  Oliver, Mary This World
  Patrul Rinpoche Advice from Me to Myself
  Plunkett, Joseph Mary I See His Blood Upon the Rose
  Rahman Baba Sow Flowers
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Conquer Death with the drumbeat Ma! Ma! Ma!
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Kulakundalini, Goddess Full of Brahman, Tara
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Meditate on Kali! Why be anxious?
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Why disappear into formless trance?
  Ramsay, Jay Traveller: stop a moment (from Anamnesis)
  Reninger, Elizabeth Deer
  Reninger, Elizabeth Deluge
  Rilke, Rainer Maria We are the driving ones
  Rosenstock, Gabriel Spring With a Thousand ClichĂ©s
  Rosenstock, Gabriel to fully explore
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (1) You are in me (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (4) A daisy picked (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin come
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin I smile like a flower not only with my lips
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin I'm neither beautiful nor ugly
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin With Us
  Ryokan At Yahiko Mountain
  Ryokan The Lotus
  Ryokan The plants and flowers
  Ryokan The winds have died, but flowers go on falling
  Sanai, Hakim Bloom Like a Rose
  Sanai, Hakim The Wild Rose of Praise
  Saraha The Royal Song of Saraha (Dohakosa)
  Sarmad Every man who knows his secret
  Sarmad He and I are one
  Sarmad My heart searched for your fragrance
  Shabistari, Mahmud The Effect of the Draft (from The Secret Rose Garden)
  Shiwu (Stonehouse) Paper windows bamboo walls hedge of hibiscus
  Shiwu (Stonehouse) This body's lifetime is like a bubble's
  Shiwu (Stonehouse) To glorify the Way what should people turn to
  Silesius, Angelus The rose blooms and knows not why
  Sinan, Ummi The Rose
  Solovyov, Vladimir Three Meetings
  Soseki, Muso Snow Garden
  Soseki, Natsume Plum flower temple
  Sun Buer Cut brambles long enough
  Surdas Krishna Awakes
  Symeon the New Theologian The Light of Your Way
  Szymborska, Wislawa I'm Working on the World
  Szymborska, Wislawa Miracle Fair
  Szymborska, Wislawa Nothing Twice
  Szymborska, Wislawa Possibilities
  Tagore, Rabindranath He's there among the scented trees (from The Lover of God)
  Tagore, Rabindranath On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time (from Gitanjali)
  Tagore, Rabindranath Who are You, who keeps my heart awake? (from The Lover of God)
  Tagore, Rabindranath Your flute plays the exact notes of my pain. (from The Lover of God)
  Tagore, Rabindranath (75) Thy gifts to us mortals fulfil all our needs (from Gitanjali)
  Teasdale, Sara Two Songs for Solitude
  Tennyson, Alfred Flower in the crannied wall
  Therese of Lisieux The Divine Dew
  Thompson, Francis The Hound of Heaven
  Tolkien, J. R. R. Sam's Song of Strength
  Tolkien, J. R. R. The Song of Beren and LĂșthien
  Tolkien, J. R. R. Upon the hearth the fire is red
  Trungpa, Chogyam A flower is always happy
  Trungpa, Chogyam A Heart Lost and Discovered
  Tukaram I have found the sea
  Tung-Shan (Tozan) Verses on the Five Ranks
  Ungar, Lynn Camas Lilies
  Valad, Sultan The Soul That Does not Live in God is not Alive
  Vaughan, Henry The Morning Watch
  Vidyapati As the mirror to my hand
  Walters, Dorothy Don't Make Lists
  Walters, Dorothy Still Life
  Walters, Dorothy The Abundance of Brightness
  Walters, Dorothy Whoever Went In
  Wei, Wang Living in the Mountain on an Autumn Night
  Wei, Wang Stone Gate Temple in the Blue Field Mountains
  Wordsworth, William Imagination--here the Power so called (from The Prelude, Book 6)
  Wordsworth, William "To every Form of being is assigned," (from The Excursion, Book 9)
  Wu Men Hui-k'ai Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn
  Yeats, William Butler The Secret Rose
Wine