The Rose Without a Thorn

Long, long ago, in an English court,
a shy, Spanish rose bowed her head.
The English king made her his royal wife,
but crushed her soon after they wed.

The king was bewitched by a red-headed beauty
before the first rose had fled.
But the red rose had thorns which bit his hands,
so he struck her and plucked off her head.

Yet there in the English garden court,
stood a proud rose with thorns galore.
The king was enchanted by her intrigues,
but she died while a man-child she bore.

Then soon to the garden of the king
came a wise rose called "my lady fair."
But the king was quickly put off by her
and called her the "Flander's Mare."

With a kiss on her petals, he sent her away.
From his beautiful court, she was banned.
Now she's the king's sister and there she stays
in her far-away castle with servants and land.

The king sent for all his gardeners.
The buglers sounded the horn
as he solemnly charged each noble man
to find him a rose without thorn.

It didn't take long to find her.
She was silly and young; a coquette.
The king rejoiced in his rose sans thorns
and made her his red royal pet.

But rumors soon enveloped the bloom;
the apple of the king's eye.
Then, tearfully, his heart pierced through,
he ordered his red rose to die.

The king made a search throughout the land
for a blushing rose without thorn
and discovered a quiet, yellow rose
whose petals were crumpled and worn.

Oh, the thorns of rumor and intrigue!
Oh, the thorns of murder and strife!
Oh, the roses in Henry's garden
only wanted to be the king's wife.

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(The rhyme which has aided English children in remembering the order of the demise of Henry VIII's wives has been: "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived." Henry divorced Catherine of Aragon, beheaded Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour died in childbirth, Anne of Cleves was quietly sent away with an annulment, Catherine Howard was executed, and the widow Catherine Parr outlived the old scoundrel.)