JUST when the red June Roses blow She gave me one, -- a year ago. A Rose whose crimson breath revealed The secret that its heart concealed, And whose half-shy, half-tender grace Blushed back upon the giver's face. A year ago -- a year ago -- To hope was not to know. Just when the red June Roses blow I plucked her one, -- a month ago: Its half-blown crimson to eclipse, I laid it on her smiling lips; The balmy fragrance of the south Drew sweetness from her sweeter mouth. Swiftly do golden hours creep, -- To hold is not to keep. The red June Roses now are past, This very day I broke the last, -- And now its perfumed breath is hid, With her, beneath a coffin-lid; There will its petals fall apart, And wither on her icy heart: At three red Roses' cost My world was gained and lost. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MADRIGAL: 1 by WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN OF THE DAY ESTIVALL by ALEXANDER HUME SHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK by HERMAN MELVILLE WHEN I BUY PICTURES by MARIANNE MOORE ADMONITION [TO A TRAVELLER] by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ON THE DEITY by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD TRICKSTERS by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |