So the rose is symbolic of innocence and purity - of the virgin mary
This is the innocence upon which the invisible worm, air-borne plague, descends
With its dark, repressive, insidious, cloaked love
Perhaps the repression of experience itself - or as a frightened response to experience
I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And Thou shalt not. writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore.
And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be:
And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars, my joys & desires.