When the Rose Is Gone
When the Rose Is Gone - meaning Summary
Beloved as Ultimate Reality
This poem presents a Sufi-inflected distinction between the Beloved (divine reality) and the lover (the self). Using images of a rose, a nightingale, and a wingless bird, it argues that worldly beauty and the lover’s vitality depend entirely on the Beloved’s presence. Absent that presence, the lover becomes a mere veil or dead thing. The closing lines claim love’s intent: to reveal the essential Word or truth through the loss and longing described.
Read Complete AnalysesWhen the rose is gone and the garden faded you will no longer hear the nightingale’s song. The Beloved is all; the lover just a veil. The Beloved is living; the lover a dead thing. If love withholds its strengthening care, the lover is left like a bird without care, the lover is left like a bird without wings. How will I be awake and aware if the light of the Beloved is absent? Love wills that this Word be brought forth.
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