“It’s not really poetry, but it’s pretty,” he said.
As he raises his voice, she lowers her head.
It makes my heart heavy or lonely, I think.
Oh, Rose, you’re said, I suppose.
But look in her bed, and she’s bound to be sleeping.
She’s lying there dead, but she’s breathing.

Furious Rose, with your opiate eyes
And your languorous hum, that tone of surprise.
I’ve heard energy in adversity, your smile the soul of witchery.
You’re not running away, you’re not running, are you?

Lyrically longing, she’s tearing the words from the page.
She’s fearfully seething.
“Bring me your blessings, a prayer or a new pen.
You don’t know what I need.
But look in my bed, and I’m bound to be sleeping.
I’m lying there dead, but I’m breathing.

And I’m barely balancing as it is,
And I don’t want to drown in my dreams.
Bring me wild plums, wild plums and agrimony.
Why, I bet you don’t even know what that means, no.”

Furious Rose, with your opiate eyes
And your languorous hum, that tone of surprise.
I’ve heard energy in adversity, your smile the soul of witchery.
You’re not running away, you’re not running.
You’re not running away, you’re not running.
You’re not running away, you’re not running, are you?

Gingerly peering over his shoulder,
Removed herself from the room.
She’s terribly freezing.
She always knows when to go.

"I feel like it was inspired by some of my classes and they talked about Freud and how he proved this one woman to be hysterical and really she's just a normal person just like any of us, you know, she has problems... He decided that she was hysterical by her talking about her life... It just inspired me to write a song about a person who thinks someone else is hysterical and then that hysterical person explaining how they are, and that character is "furious rose."

in lisa's own words, the significance of "wild plums and agrimony":

"Wild Plums and Agrimony are flowers. In the song I reference a Victorian dictionary of flowers, which explains that different flowers represent different things. Wild Plums represent independence, and Agrimony represents thankfulness and gratitude. In the song, Freud misdiagnoses Rose as a hysterical woman. Rose is a misunderstood individual, so she is begging for these flowers, obvious symbols of the qualities that she possesses, but qualities that are ignored by the doctor. Rose is a subtle and emotionally substantial person, but she's being pigeonholed as a crazy person. She needs something to represent these traits for her, since Freud can't see them in her. He talks down to her and doesn't take her seriously, and she's frustrated. That's why she says, "I bet you don't even know what that means." A man as smart as Freud should know the symbolic meaning of something as simple as a flower, but inside, she knows that he's ignorant in some ways - his eyes are not open, even though he acts as if he can analyze her.

a wild plum flower

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