Roses red and roses white
Plucked out for my love's delight
She’d have none of all my posies
Bade me me gather her blue roses

Half the world i wandered through
Seeking where such flowers grew
Half the world unto my quest
Answered me with laugh and jest
Roses red and roses white
Plucked out for my love's delight
She'd have none of all my posies
Bade me gather her blue roses

Home i came at wintertide
But my silly love had died
Seeking with her latest breath
Roses from the arm’s of death
Roses red and roses white
Plucked out for my love's delight
She'd have none of all my posies
Bade me gather her blue roses

It may beyond the grave
She shall find what she would have
Mine was but an idle quest
Roses white and red are best
Roses red and roses white
Plucked out for my love's delight
She'd have none of all my posies
Bade me gather her blue roses