How does it feel sleeping or laying
down on a “bed of roses”?
Whether
it’s the movie, the Bon Jovi song or the Aussie’s drama series, aren’t you
perplexed by the way it sounds?
It
is actually an expression first used by the great poet Christopher Marlowe in
one of his great masterpieces, A Passionate Shepherd to his Love in 1599. The actual lines that accounted it were:
“…And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of
myrtle;…”
It
is a universal idea that the flower rose is the most, if not regarded as the
most beautiful flower of all. Further, a rose or a bouquet of those given
to a woman or to someone connotes love and affection as they are naturally soft
and fragrant. A warm feeling of
contentment and easiness are some of the additional feelings that one gets when
given or adorned by roses.
Marlowe’s
idea of having a bed of roses would simply mean putting or placing yourself or
someone on a condition that is easy and peaceful. Laying down on them would further bring
contentment and a blissful life.
Applying
this to reality, this poetic expression is commonly given or stated by
advisers, counselors and those people who have “been-there-done-that” situations. They often describe a human beings’ life as
not always a “bed of roses” which means life is not always that perfect,
complete and easily the way we thought of it to be. The expression tends to be more of an ideal
thing in nature.
The
only thing the poet did not notice was the thorns on the stems of those
roses. He should then clarified it as
laying down on a bed of “unstemmed” roses.
The person who’ll do it might get easily a free acupuncture
treatment…Ouch!
