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Poem: “Two Roses” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Poems of Sentiment

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American LiteratureAmerican PoetryElla Wheeler WilcoxPoems by Ella Wheeler WilcoxPoems of Sentiment
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Two Roses


A humble wild-rose, pink and slender,
   Was plucked and placed in a bright bouquet,
Beside a Jacqueminot’s royal splendour,
   And both in my lady’s boudoir lay.

Said the haughty bud, in a tone of scorning,
   “I wonder why you are called a rose?
Your leaves will fade in a single morning;
   No blood of mine in your pale cheek glows.

“Your coarse green stalk shows dust of the highway,
   You have no depths of fragrant bloom;
And what could you learn in a rustic byway
   To fit you to lie in my lady’s room?

“If called to adorn her warm, white bosom,
   What have you to offer for such a place,
Beside my fragrant and splendid blossom,
   Ripe with colour and rich with grace?”

Said the sweet wild-rose, “Despite your dower
   Of finer breeding and deeper hue,
Despite your beauty, fair, high-bred flower,
   It is I who should lie on her breast, not you.

“For small account is your hot-house glory
   Beside the knowledge that came to me
When I heard by the wayside love’s old story
   And felt the kiss of the amorous bee.”


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American LiteratureAmerican PoetryElla Wheeler WilcoxPoems by Ella Wheeler WilcoxPoems of Sentiment


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