Tis the Last Rose of Summer

It captures the heart, 1813.
words by Thomas Moore
music: anonymous from 1670
original arrangement by John Andrew Stevenson

The poem was written in 1805 being inspired by a rose bush. It was set in 1813 to an Irish melody from the seventeenth century.

The sheet music:

Tis-the-Last-Rose-of-Summer – Sheet MusicDownload

Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:

Tis_The_Last_Rose_Of_Summer – MIDIDownload

Lyrics

  1. ‘Tis the last rose of summer
    Left blooming alone
    All her lovely companions
    Are faded and gone
    No flower of her kindred
    No rosebud is nigh
    To reflect back her blushes
    Or give sigh for sigh
  2. 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
  3. So soon may I 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?

Sung here by Fred Feild: