Pebbles and Shells (Hawkes collection)/The Rose and the Thorn
THE ROSE AND THE THORN
I sought the flower I loved the best Amid the garden's varied bloom, A perfect bud with sweet perfume,A rose more fair than all the restThat I might wear it on my breast And guard it ever tenderly. I found the flower that bloomed for meBeside the pathway, smiling lest The wanderer might pass it by And it be left to fade and die.I seized the flower with wild delight, Though cruelly my hand was torn. It faded e'er another nightAnd left me but the ugly thorn.