[Editor: This poem by William Blocksidge (also known as William Baylebridge) was published in Songs o’ the South (1908).]
IV.
With a Rose
Dear maid, I send this rose to thee
That it may tell thy love for me;
And pray that next thy heaving breast,
As did my heart, this flower may rest.
If thou art true as thou art fair,
How lovely will this rose look there!
And, maiden, keep it then to prove
That thou art pleased to have my love.
But if thou laugh’st to hear my pain,
First wear, then send it back again:
Though crushed and broken, ’twill be fairer
From having even known the wearer.
Source:
William Blocksidge, Songs o’ the South, London: Watts, 1908, p. 25
Editor’s notes:
art = (archaic) are
laugh’st = (archaic) laugh, laughs
maid = maiden, young woman, young female (may also refer to a female servant)
thee = (archaic) you
thou = (archaic) you
thy = (archaic) your
’twill = (archaic) a contraction of “it will”
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