"The Rose of No Man's Land"
by George Gordon and Robert Bruce
Sheet music courtesy of Clarence Johnson |
Just like the songs at the beginning of the war—Brit, romantic, nostalgic, fantastic—the one American entry in that category also makes clear the depth of the fantasy. "The Rose of No Man's Land" plays on the "Roses of Picardy" from the early British catalogue of war songs, and uses misdirection to lead the listeners to that comfortable and nostalgic place in their emotional ballast where they can wander through "life's garden fair" and see "beautiful flowers," smell "fragrance rare," and then be told that there is "another / Wondrous beyond compare." This example nonpareil is a rose that grows in the corrupted soil of No Man's Land:
There's a rose that grows on "no man's land,"
And it's wonderful to see.
Though it's sprayed with tears
It will live for years
In my garden of memory
It's the one red rose
The Soldier knows
It's the work of the Master's hand.
'Mid the war's great curse,
Stands the Red Cross Nurse,
She's the Rose of No Man's land.
In this context, the Red Cross nurse is, clearly, an angelic presence, "the work of the Master's hand" and she stands against "the war's great curse." It is one of the few references of such harsh terms naming the war, but the nurse stands, the red rose, again and again, as a symbol of bravery, redemption, memory, love, and loss. There is an aura of invincibility imparted to these women and if they stand beside our boys, it is implied, both will not only survive, but prevail. It is a vision of mythical proportions with almost sacred manifestations.
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