Love is in the Air as Valentine’s Day Approaches

The stained glass and tile mural Two Red Roses Across the Moon, located on the second floor of the Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement (MAACM), takes its inspiration from the ballad of the same name by William Morris, the leading voice of the English Arts and Crafts movement. Designed by British architect and designer E. A. Taylor, the mural transforms Morris’s poetic refrain into luminous color and form, uniting literature and craftsmanship in a single decorative statement.

Published in The Defence of Guenevere in 1858, Morris’s poem explores love, longing, valor, and fidelity. A lady sings daily from her hall—“Two red roses across the moon”—while a knight rides to prove himself in battle before returning to claim her hand. The recurring refrain becomes a symbol of constancy amid separation and trial.

Taylor’s interpretation captures this romantic medievalism. Two crimson blossoms suspended against a moonlit ground evoke the ideals cherished by Morris and his circle, while the handcrafted glass reflects Arts and Crafts principles: unity of design, integrity of materials, and devotion to poetic imagination.

The phrase Two Red Roses Across the Moon, together with Taylor’s design, later inspired the name and logo of Rudy Ciccarello’s Two Red Roses Foundation, owner of the museum’s collection. The mural thus stands as both homage and emblem—an enduring image of beauty and commitment expressed through art.

Two Red Roses Across the Moon, William Morris, 1858

There was a lady lived in a hall,
Large in the eyes, and slim and tall;
And ever she sung from noon to noon,
Two red roses across the moon.

There was a knight came riding by
In early spring, when the roads were dry;
And he heard that lady sing at the noon,
Two red roses across the moon.

Yet none the more he stopp'd at all,
But he rode a-gallop past the hall;
And left that lady singing at noon,
Two red roses across the moon.

Because, forsooth, the battle was set,
And the scarlet and blue had got to be met,
He rode on the spur till the next warm noon: —
Two red roses across the moon.

But the battle was scatter'd from hill to hill,
From the windmill to the watermill;
And he said to himself, as it near'd the noon,
Two red roses across the moon.

You scarce could see for the scarlet and blue,
A golden helm or a golden shoe,
So he cried, as the fight grew thick at the noon,
Two red roses across the moon!

Verily then the gold bore through
The huddled spears of the scarlet and blue;
And they cried, as they cut them down at the noon,
Two red roses across the moon!

I trow he stopp'd when he rode again
by the hall, though draggled sore with the rain;
And his lips were pinch'd to kiss at the noon
Two red roses across the moon.

Under the may she stoop'd to the crown,
All was gold, there was nothing of brown;
And the horns blaw up in the hall at noon,
Two red roses across the moon.