Roses ruddy and roses white, <br />What are the joys that my heart discloses? <br />Sitting alone in the fading light <br />Memories come to me here tonight <br />With the wonderful scent of the big red roses. <br />Memories come as the daylight fades <br />Down on the hearth where the firelight dozes; <br />Flicker and flutter the lights and shades, <br />And I see the face of a queen of maids <br />Whose memory comes with the scent of roses. <br /> <br />Visions arise of a scent of mirth, <br />And a ball-room belle who superbly poses -- <br />A queenly woman of queenly worth, <br />And I am the happiest man on earth <br />With a single flower from a bunch of roses. <br /> <br />Only her memory lives tonight -- <br />God in his wisdom her young life closes; <br />Over her grave may the turf be light, <br />Cover her coffin with roses white <br />She was always fond of the big white roses. <br /> <br /> * <br /> <br />Such are the visions that fade away -- <br />Man proposes and God disposes; <br />Look in the glass and I see today <br />Only an old man, worn and grey, <br />Bending his head to a bunch of roses.<br /><br />Andrew Barton Paterson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-bunch-of-roses/
