Roses red and white,
Every rose is hanging her head,
Silently comes the lady Night,
Only the flowers can hear her tread.
All day long the birds have been calling,
Calling shrill and sweet,
They are still when she comes with her long robe
Falling down to her feet.
The thrush has sung to his mate," She is coming ! hush ! she is coming ! "She is lifting the latch at the gate,
And the bees have ceased from their humming.
I cannot see her face as she
Through my garden of white and red ;
But I know she has walked where the daisies and
Are curtseying after her tread.
She has passed me by with a rustle and
Of her robe (as she passed I heard it sweeping),
And all my red roses have fallen asleep,
And all my white roses are sleeping.
Taken from the New Adelphi Library edition of 'Selected Poems' by Lord Arthur Douglas Published by Martin Secker
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