meaning of Kissed by a Rose

But did you know that when it snows my eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen?

This must be one of the best lines in songdom. It seems to mean two things at once because of the contradiction. When it's actually snowing it's gray outside, but then after it snows a person's pupils contract autonomically to protect their eyeballs from snow-blindness, but when it snows as a person doing cocaine then their pupils dilate even if it's bright outside. Love is poetic light. The poet's eyes widen and love light is seen by a widening of emotional perception. The song is about cocaine and about love for a woman at the same time. During a cocaine buzz the poet landed on a parallel.

I'm trying to understand what this song is saying so I ask, [kissed by a rose, meaning] This song facts page explains the song in industry terms and leaves you hanging as to meaning, while the exceedingly lengthy comments explain the meaning of the song.

I did not realize how much this song means to people. Their comments are all lengthy and well-considered. There are some really smart people out there. They thought about this a great deal and give the explanation their best effort.

Coke users know about "bindles" (a 3"x3" piece of magazine paper folded in a certain way to "unfold" ("bloom") and reveal the coke inside. His new girl he loves probably cut her bindles out of "fashion magazines" and one day, he opened a bindle that showed a rose on it, which hit his emotions when he saw the parallels and symbolism about what their love really was".

So when he sings the "now that your rose is in bloom" (opening the rose photo on the bindle to reveal the coke) then a "light hits the gloom on the grey." Seal is literally saying "when you opened this bindle, a light came and took my gloom away, but it was a ROSE on the bindle -- that meant he had TWO symbolic roses to choose from - the rose on the bindle of coke, or the rose that represents her TRUE LOVE he thinks is blooming, just like when the rose bindle "bloomed".) 

When he uses the word "grey", he's talking about his mood. Winston Churchill (and other prominent people) back in the 19th and 20th centuries used to talk about their depression as being "the black days". Others refer to "grey" the same way, where their mood or depression isn't debilitating, but it's unpleasant.)

Google images [bindle cocaine] Oh, those things.

Psych! Seed package. He could have said origami envelope. And all that is just 1/4 of his answer. And they all answer this way.

Except.

if you think this is about drugs you're pretty much a dumbass. mary has the exact meaning IMO

There. I'm a dumbass. Mary:

"there used to be a greying tower alone by the sea"---means he used to be lonely and unhappy, had given up hope
"you became the light on the dark side of me"---means she has brought happiness to his sadness and misery
"love remains a drug thats the high not the pill"--means that the love she has given him brings a high> When people are in love it releases chemicals in the brain that are similar to a high someone would get from drugs, but it has nothing to do with drugs, remember the song by Huey Lewis called "i want a new drug" referring to love not drugs.
"but did you know that when it snows my eyes become large and the light that you shine cant be seen"---means--it is figuratively snowing, sad weather because she is not there, it is a time of darkness for him, when there is less light the pupils become large, less light meaning less happiness, and that happiness she brings him is gone because shes not there, when shes gone no light (happiness) is in his life
"baby i compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey" means--- he is comparing the kiss (a kiss is an expression of love and she is the love in his life, the rose refers to her (a rose is beautiful, she is the rose--on the grey is referring to the the love she has brought to his sadness and misery (the grey is a color that denotes gloom)
"ooh the more i get of you stranger it feels" he has been lonely for so long that the emotion of love feels unfamiliar to him
"now that your rose is in bloom, a light hits the gloom on the grey"----means now that she has opened her heart to him, he is happy now, thus she has brought happiness to his gloom. when a flower is in bloom it opens and its beauty is revealed.
"there is so much a man can tell you so much he can say"----refers to the fact that even when men are in love it is hard to reveal their feelings to their woman.
"you remain my power,my pleasure my pain" meaning she evokes every emotion in him,she means everything to him-- all emotions she brings to him are strength (power), pleasure (happiness) pain (sadness)
"baby to me your like a growing addiction that i cant deny, wont you tell me is that healthy baby"
He is falling more and more in love with her every day. He's becoming addicted to her, kind of to the point that its not a healthy relationship when one focuses too much on the other it may become almost like an obsession. he's hooked on her and its hard to give her up. Just like a drug addict needs more and more drugs to achieve their satisfaction.

Mary thinks that when it snows and his eyes grow the light that she shines cannot be seen. No, Seal printed the lyrics. When it snows the light that she shines can be seen. The other interpretation is better. His girlfriend does cocaine too and he needs her to say that it's their their love that is growing so similar to addiction and not the cocaine they do together and not just growing co-dependency.

Songwriters are always writing about drugs and relationships. This song is one such.

71 comments and half are this long.

In ASL, the sign for "gloom" goes right into the sign for "gray." It's a very nice combination of light hitting the edge of gloom and the gray. And oddly, the sign for "gray" is the same configuration and movement and idea as the sign for "anyway."