A lover dispatches a rose with a bold, teasing message for his beloved: she should finally give up her freedom and be entwined with him, because she has too often left him feeling trapped. The speaker’s tone turns mock-menacing, offering pearl-and-gold bands to bind her hands and myrtle rods to “tame, though not to kill,” if she resists. But no sooner has he given these instructions than he takes them back, terrified that a flash of her angry eye will burn the messenger—and him—alive. The whole poem shimmers with flirtatious mischief. The speaker is clearly infatuated, trying on a posture of control only to have it collapse into vulnerability. He masks his own helplessness with playful threats, then abruptly admits he’s just as afraid of her wrath as the delicate rose. The mood is light and teasing, charged with the delicious tension of a lover who risks everything on a single, half-swallowed message.
TO THE ROSE: SONG — Summary
Go, happy Rose, and interwove With other flowers, bind my Love. Tell her, too, she must not be Longer flowing, longer free, That so oft has fetter'd me.
Say, if she's fretful, I have bands Of pearl and gold, to bind her hands; Tell her, if she struggle still, I have myrtle rods at will, For to tame, though not to kill.
Take thou my blessing thus, and go And tell her this,--but do not so!-- Lest a handsome anger fly Like a lightning from her eye, And burn thee up, as well as I!