Hear my voice and listen well, and a story I will tell,
How duty brought a broken heart, and why a love so strong
Must fall apart;
She was lovely, she was fine, daughter of a royal line,
He, no equal, but for them it mattered little for they were in love;
Rose of England, sweet and fair, shining with the sun,
Rose of England, have a care, for where the thorn is,
There the blood will run;
Oh my heart, oh my heart;
Through the summer days and nights, stolen kisses and delights
Would thrill their hearts and fill their dreams with all emotions
That true love can bring;
But black of mourning came one day, when her sister passed away,
And many said on bended knee, she has gone, and you must be our Queen;
Rose of England, sweet and fair, shining with the sun,
Rose of England, have a care, for where the thorn is,
There the blood will run;
Oh my heart, oh my heart;
To the abbey she did ride, with her lover by her side,
When they heard the church bells ring, she was Queen
And one day, he'd be King;
But men of malice, men of hate, protesting to her chambers came,
'A foreign prince will have your hand, for he'll bring peace
And riches to our land;'
She said, 'Do you tell me that I cannot wed the one I love?
Do you tell me that I am not mistress of my heart?'
And so with heavy weight of life she kissed her lover one last time,
'This land I wed, and no man comes, for if I cannot have you, I'll have
none;'
Rose of England, sweet and fair, shining with the sun,
Rose of England have a care, for where the thorn is,
There the blood will run;
Oh my heart, oh my heart.
"This is about the bittersweet life of Queen Elizabeth - and it has already become one of my personal favourites. It's the story of Elizabeth the First, and the fact that she had to put duty before love. Although she was in love before she acceded to the throne after her sister Mary died, she was unable to marry the man she loved because it wasn't the political marriage that everybody, all her advisors, were telling her to have. So, in fact, she married nobody. She married England and became the Virgin Queen. The words behind the song are 'Rose of England, sweet and fair, shining with the sun. Rose of England, have a care - for where the thorn is, there the blood will run.' It's the paradox of what a rose actually is; a rose is a gorgeous flower, but if you hold it wrong, it will prick your hand and the blood will flow. That's also the paradox of her life; it was in some ways so blessed, so beautiful, but there was also a lot of sadness and grief underneath it."
The Getaway Gazette, March 2004
Albums
"Rose Of England" appears on the following albums:
