Venice masks

Tuesday 31 March 2015

Black roses - Ernst Josephson

Tell me, why are you so sad today?
You have always been so merry and gay!
Believe me, I am no more sad today
Than when you thought that I was merry and gay;
For sorrow has night-black roses.

A tangle of roses grows thick round my heart
And stinging thorns make wounds that smart.
And roses and thorns spread night and day;
They have driven all joy and peace away,
For sorrow has night-black roses!

Ernst Josephson (1851 - 1906) Sweden
Translated by Frederick Delius

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