Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917.

Alfred Noyes (1880–1958)

328. Song

WHAT is there hid in the heart of a rose,

Mother-mine?

Ah, who knows, who knows, who knows?

A man that died on a lonely hill

May tell you, perhaps, but none other will,

Little child.

What does it take to make a rose,

Mother-mine?

The God that died to make it knows

It takes the world’s eternal wars,

It takes the moon and all the stars,

It takes the might of heaven and hell

And the everlasting Love as well,

Little child.