Of the Rose Bush

This homely bush doth to mine eyes expose
A very fair, yea, comely ruddy rose.

This homely bush doth to mine eyes expose
A very fair, yea, comely ruddy rose.
This rose doth also bow its head to me,
Saying, Come, pluck me, I thy rose will be;

Yet offer I to gather rose or bud,
Ten to one but the bush will have my blood.
This looks like a trapan,[34] or a decoy,
To offer, and yet snap, who would enjoy;

Yea, the more eager on’t, the more in danger,
Be he the master of it, or a stranger.
Bush, why dost bear a rose if none must have it.
Who dost expose it, yet claw those that crave it?

Art become freakish? dost the wanton play,
Or doth thy testy humour tend its way?

Comparison

This rose God’s Son is, with his ruddy looks.
But what’s the bush, whose pricks, like tenter-hooks,
Do scratch and claw the finest lady’s hands,
Or rend her clothes, if she too near it stands?

This bush an emblem is of Adam’s race,
Of which Christ came, when he his Father’s grace
Commended to us in his crimson blood,
While he in sinners’ stead and nature stood.

Thus Adam’s race did bear this dainty rose,
And doth the same to Adam’s race expose;
But those of Adam’s race which at it catch,
Adam’s race will them prick, and claw, and scratch.

John Bunyan