The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar/She Gave Me a Rose

SHE GAVE ME A ROSE

She gave a rose, And I kissed it and pressed it. I love her, she knows, And my action confessed it. She gave me a rose, And I kissed it and pressed it.

Ah, how my heart glows, Could I ever have guessed it? It is fair to suppose That I might have repressed it: She gave me a rose, And I kissed it and pressed it.

'T was a rhyme in life's prose That uplifted and blest it. Man's nature, who knows Until love comes to test it? She gave me a rose, And I kissed it and pressed it.