Year 7 Medieval Poetry: Of a Rose

The original is here. This was an easy poem. I was able to get it just from the first reading. Tim suggested that maybe I'm just getting better at it, but I think this particular poem is just easier.

Of a rose, a lovely rose,
Of a rose is all my song.

Listen, lords, both old and young,
How this rose began to spring;
A rose as much to my liking
In all this world I know not one.

The Angel came from heaven's tower,
To greet Mary with great honor,
And said she would bear the flower
That would break the fiend's bond.

The flower sprang in high Bethlehem,
That is both bright and beautiful:
The rose is Mary, heaven's queen,
Out of her bosom the blossom sprang.

The first branch is full of might,
That sprang on Christmas night,
The star shone over Bethlehem bright
That is both broad and long.

The second branch sprang to hell,
To fell the fiend's power:
So that no soul might dwell there;
Blessed be the time the rose sprang!

The third branch is good and sweet,
It sprang to heaven plant and root
To dwell there be our salvation;
Every day it shows in priest's hand.

We pray to her with great honor,
She that bore the blessed flower,
She is our help and our aid
And shields us from the fiend's bond.