"The Rose"

The Rose

She put her arms around Death’s neck,

        And leaned upon his breast;
For life had not been kind to her,
        And it was sweet to rest.

“Poor Heart,” Death murmured, bearing her
        Upon her lonely quest;
“Whence came this red, red rose, whose thorn
        Has pierced they bleeding breast?”

As up the amethystine deeps
        They mounted to the sun,
She smiled into the eyes of Death:
        “It is my love for one.”

“Has it a thorn? And do I bleed?
        I do not know or care.”

(She smiled again); “I only know

        That red, red rose is there.”  
      

"The Rose" handwritten by Ella Higginson, courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA. 

"The Rose" as it appears in Ella Higginson's Four-Leaf Clover (1901).

"The Rose" as it appears in Ella Higginson's The Voice of April-Land and Other Poems (1903).