IT WAS THE TIME OF ROSES

It was not in the winter

Our loving lot was cast:

It was the time of roses—

We plucked them as we passed!

That churlish season never frowned

On early lovers yet!

O, no—the world was newly crowned

With flowers, when first we met.

'Twas twilight, and I bade you go,

But still you held me fast:

It was the time of roses—

We plucked them as we passed."...

Thomas Hood

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