We love the land when the world goes round,
And deep, deep down in her thorny ground,
Where nobody comes, and nobody knows,
We love the Rose. Oh! we love the Rose.
And none to tell us, and none to teach
By the western hedge or the shelving beach,
But all of us know what everyone knows,
We love the Rose. Oh! we love the Rose.
We love the rose when our day is dead,
And they lay their roses upon our bed;
Too late! Too late! in our last repose!
But we love the Rose. Ah! we love the Rose.
The poem in brief
Love & relationships People praise land and flowers too late, laying roses on graves after withholding affection from the living. Lawson’s repeated love of the rose includes frustration with beauty offered only in repose.
AI-assisted reader context
Sources, publication & text notes Reference details Canonical record POEM-000048
Copy-text Henry Lawson — The Skyline Riders and Other Verses; selected digital copy-text retained exactly; complete University of Sydney institutional edition independently corroborates substantive wording and meaningful selected-copy layout under D-180/D-208
Source record SRC-000001
Rights determination RGT-001030
Text status CANONICAL TEXT READY
Transcription DIPLOMATIC_D180_D208
How texts and rights are checked →
While The Billy Boils · Public-domain text · www.whilethebillyboils.com.au/poems/the-rose
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