A Spotless Rose original pen and ink and watercolour illustration by Rosie Brooks

"A Spotless Rose" is a Christmas carol based on a German hymn tune known as "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" (literally, "A rose has sprung up"). Here are the lyrics:

A spotless rose is blowing, Sprung from a tender root, Of ancient seers' foreshowing, Of Jesse promised fruit; Its fairest bud unfolds to light Amid the cold, cold winter, And in the dark midnight.

The rose which I am singing, Whereof Isaiah said, Is from its sweet root springing In Mary, purest Maid; For through our God's great love and might, The blessed Babe she bare us, In a cold, cold winter's night.

The lyrics were written by Catherine Winkworth, a 19th-century English hymn writer, and are based on a German text by an unknown author.