Roses have long been associated with love, but seldom so movingly as in this sonnet by Thomas Carper of Cornish. 

ROSES

By Thomas Carper 

During the night of fever, as she lay

Between an exhausted wakefulness and sleep,

I sat beside her fearfully, in dismay

When her slow breathing would become so deep

It seemed that she might slip beyond recall.

Then I would touch her; then she would revive;

Then, when her eyelids opened and a small

Smile would greet me, hope would come alive.

With morning, the ordeal was over. Gone

Was every trace of illness. A soft rain

Had swept across the countryside at dawn,

So even our garden was made fresh again.

Then Janet went among our roses where

She and the roses shone in luminous air.