THE ROSE COMES in so many hues,
Who dares to call it red?
The violets would get the blues
If anybody said
That yellow, white, and even green*
Did not true violets make.
But all the flowers ever seen—
The real ones and the fake—
And all the ones we’ve yet to see,
On herb or tree or vine,
I’d bring to you, if you would be
My loving Valentine.

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*Hybanthus concolor.