The Sick Rose by William Blake
I just finished listening to the audiobook of The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I thought it was excellent! This poem is quoted therein.
The Sick Rose
By William Blake
O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
Ron Dawson has adopted a line from this poem as the title of his new thriller novel, The Worm that fies in the Night, with the sub-title, A diary of incestuous love and serial murder. You need to read the book to understand why.
In the poem Edward BLake signifies the Rose as both the human being and also as the sign of love.when saying the ‘thy crimson of joy” he (the author) clarifies that it is the indicative of where the acts of love is expressed in a sexual relationship.