Blue Roses. Rudyard Kipling. 1922. Verse: 1885-1918

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,	5
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	10
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—	15
Roses white and red are best!