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Home  »  English Poetry III  »  732. A White Rose

English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

John Boyle O’Reilly

732. A White Rose

THE RED rose whispers of passion,

And the white rose breathes of love;

O, the red rose is a falcon,

And the white rose is a dove.

But I send you a cream-white rosebud

With a flush on its petal tips;

For the love that is purest and sweetest

Has a kiss of desire on the lips.