The Last (Field) Rose Of Summer

The wild pink dog roses have finished flowering. This is the final bloom on our wild field rose, which is in the hedge in an area that I call Butterfly Alley. I always feel sad when these fade, they're the end of a succession of wild white flowers that I love, starting in spring with blackthorn. I often find myself singing the very sad The Last Rose of Summer about this time, even though cultivated roses continue blooming through summer and into the autumn.

PS I've done a near blip snap with myself. :) The subjects I take and the thoughts I have are similar every year. I was sure that I'd blipped about the sadness of the last field rose before but couldn't find it as I hadn't tagged it #rose. Interesting that the last one last year was later, on 12th July. Maybe there are more to come but I can't see any buds. 

'Tis the last rose of summer,
    Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
    Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
    No rose-bud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes
    Or give sigh for sigh!

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one.
    To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
    Go, sleep thou with them;
Thus kindly I scatter
    Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
    Lie scentless and dead.

So soon mayI follow,
    When friendships decay,
And from love's shining circle
    The gems drop away!
When true hearts lie withered,
    And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
    This bleak world alone?