a White Rose
By John Boyle O'Reilly
the red rose whispers of passion
The white rose breathes of love
the red rose is a falcon
The white rose is a dove.
but I send you a cream white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips,
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips.
How lovely. 
I've known this poem for many years, and did manage to get the pink edged white roses together with Lily of the valley and stephanotis for my wedding bouquet in 1956 . Unfortunately our photos were in black and white then !
Your red rose was gorgeous and triggered this memory. irisx
Lovely poem thanks for that, hope your well. Fred
so glad you liked it. I've just been reading about the poet, that's the wonderful thing about the net, so much at our fingertips. he was transported to .w Australia but escaped to America.
Hope you are well, I'm OK but wish it would warm up a bit, don't like going out in the cold. Love Iris x
Sigh lovely, wish my hubby was romantic but alas not. Strange our Son is.
Hi Suzy,
On the whole, men are more practical than romantic, and not good at showing their softer side. I think this generation of men (thinking of my sons) are better at showing their feelings, than say their grandfather. but if the romantic moments are rare, they are all the more precious for that. Love Iris x
I wish I could set it to music ( and play it to you on my flute!)
How lovely, a bit of romance is seldom amiss. Mx
How true, little gestures cost nothing. It all big expense these days. a local little tea shop is offering Valentines day afternoon tea for £40 a head! that would not impress me, I'm afraid.
Nor me Iris.. I feel it would take something with a little more of a simplistic and personal approach.
I hadn't come across that poem before and I thought how lovely it is.
The thrushes, including the blackbirds, are early nesters and are getting their territories
sorted out. From my window the males can be seen chasing one another off - haven't yet seen any interest from the females...ha! they're not silly 
Glad you liked it. did you move to the sheltered housing and if so, was it successful? Read an early post to get to know you a little bit. Hope you're well. Iris x
That's me! And thanks, yes - it's been a good move for me here and I'm happy with things in general. Missed my big old garden and all it's wildlife but I've lived here now for almost two years. See a fair variety of birds in neighbouring gardens from my first floor flat and more recently have hung up a feeder of chopped peanuts and sunflower hearts directly outside the window.
The blue tits and great tits soon found it and a male chaffinch has also started to feed from it.
It's nice to meet you Iris and I hope you're keeping as well as possible ~ Lovelight x
Pleased to hear you settled in your new home. We are in a bungalow and moved here 16 years ago. the garden seemed very manageable then, compared to our previous three quarters of an acre, partly sloping. Now were almost 81 (me) and Tony 85 it's getting harder. Might just have to let the wildlife take over!
Beautiful
Enjoyed reading this lovely poem very much, beautiful, thank you Lyd! huff xxx
isn't poetry great, says so much more than prose very often. keep well, Iris x
Oh how lovely, thank you for that x
glad you liked the poem. How are you doing, hope the meds are working for you. Iris x
