| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Rosa Rosarum |
| | | Agnes Mary Frances Darmesteter (b. 1857) |
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| GIVE me, O friend, the secret of thy heart | |
| Safe in my breast to hide, | |
| So that the leagues which keep our lives apart | |
| May not our souls divide. | |
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| Give me the secret of thy life to lay | 5 |
| Asleep within my own, | |
| Nor dream that it shall mock thee any day | |
| By any sign or tone. | |
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| Nay, as in walking through some convent-close, | |
| Passing beside a well, | 10 |
| Oft have we thrown a red and scented rose | |
| To watch it as it fell; | |
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| Knowing that never more the rose shall rise | |
| To shame us, being dead; | |
| Watching it spin and dwindle till it lies | 15 |
| At rest, a speck of red— | |
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| Thus, I beseech thee, down the silent deep | |
| And darkness of my heart, | |
| Cast thou a rose; give me a rose to keep, | |
| My friend, before we part. | 20 |
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| For, as thou passest down thy garden-ways, | |
| Many a blossom there | |
| Groweth for thee: lilies and laden bays, | |
| And rose and lavender. | |
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| But down the darkling well one only rose | 25 |
| In all the year is shed; | |
| And o’er that chill and secret wave it throws | |
| A sudden dawn of red. | |
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