Untitled
A rose by any other name
Would get the blame
For being what it is -
The colour of a kiss,
The shadow of a flame.
A rose may earn another name,
So call it love;
So call it love I will,
And love is like the sea,
Which changes constantly,
And yet is still
The same.
Commentary
As part of the “poetry by authors” theme.
One of the things that I admire about Tanith Lee is her versatility. Her work (mostly prose) ranges from science fiction, through fairy tales, sword-and-sorcery, gothic horror to these beautiful little fantasy stories. Some of the themes that crop up in her work are: Little Red Riding Hood, vampires, re-incarnation, male-female gender politics, sexual ambiguity, the odd bit of humour, philosophy, theology … While I find some of her horror a bit dark, all of her work that I have read is carefully crafted, with wonderfully lush visual images and strong plots.
She also does poetry.
This poem comes from one of my favourite novels, ‘The Silver Metal Lover’, a love story.
— Catherine
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
atheos · 10 October 2003
I think the first part of the poem is lovely - the bit upto ‘The shadow of a flame’. However, the second part not only is not in keeping with the first portion imo, but detracts from the pleasure of the whole.
All subjective but no less real for being that. Seen from my world-view, of course. :-)