Sweet is the rose, but grows upon a briar ...

Rose Pearl Mirato - Rosen Tantau Nurseries, Uetersen - Germany

 

My garden

 

Sweet is the rose, but grows upon a briar;

Sweet in the Juniper, but sharp his bough;

Sweet is the Eglantine, but pricketh near;

Sweet is the firbloom, but his branches rough.

Sweet is the Cypress, but his rind is tough,

Sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill;

Sweet is the broom-flower, but yet sour enough;

And sweet is Moly, but his root is ill.

So every sweet with sour is tempered still

That maketh it be coveted the more:

For easy things that may be got at will,

Most sorts of men do set but little store.

Why then should I account of little pain,

That endless pleasure shall unto me gain.

 

Edmund Spenser (1552?-1599) - Amoretti, Sonnet XXVI

Done