Hafiz & Robert Herrick 
Fifty Shades of Roses 

There are many things we can perhaps more easily say with flowers than with words. And flowers can say many things to us. So perhaps these poetic expressions of spoken words and flowery subject are a perfect match. Many would agree that there is one flower, the rose, that embodies both the human condition, its ambitions, its sacrifices and its symbolism of devoted love that together with its own peerless self; the beauty of its perfume, its hues and colours, its shapes and forms, from rambler and climber to the stately grace of a rose bed, and, of course, its thorns, to warn that consequences carry a price.Poets know that a rose is perhaps able to speak in many tongues on many subjects and it is therefore unsurprising that the rose is one of the great enduring symbols of the tradition in both Western and Eastern poetry. A rose can bring a tremble of the lip, or raise the beating of a heart. They can create a mood or simplify a feeling. Their message can be direct or nuanced but so often it is just perfect. Our classic poets from Hafiz, D H Lawrence, Robert Burns and Shakespeare, along with very many others, explore this beautiful living symbol with their exquisite lines and verse.