Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Thomas Hood 1799–1845

Ballad

Hood-Tho

IT was not in the winter

Our loving lot was cast;

It was the time of roses,

We pluck’d them as we pass’d.

That churlish season never frown’d

On early lovers yet:

Oh, no—the world was newly crown’d

With flowers when first we met!

’T was twilight, and I bade you go,

But still you held me fast;

It was the time of roses,

We pluck’d them as we pass’d.

What else could peer thy glowing cheek,

That tears began to stud?

And when I ask’d the like of Love,

You snatch’d a damask bud;

And op’d it to the dainty core,

Still glowing to the last.

It was the time of roses,

We pluck’d them as we pass’d.