Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922.

Blue Roses

ROSES red and roses white

Plucked I for my love’s delight.

She would none of all my posies—

Bade me gather her blue roses.

Half the world I wandered through,

Seeking where such flowers grew

Half the world unto my quest

Answered me with laugh and jest.

Home I came at wintertide,

But my silly love had died

Seeking with her latest breath

Roses from the arms of Death.

It may be beyond the grave

She shall find what she would have.

Mine was but an idle quest—

Roses white and red are best!