English poem
To Theodore Peters
by Lionel Johnson (1867–1902)
Roses from Paestan rosaries! More goodly red and white was she: Her red and white were harmonies, Not matched upon a Paestan tree.
Ivories blaunched in Alban air! She lies more purely blaunched than you: No Alban whiteness doth she wear, But death's perfection of that hue.
Nay! now the rivalry is done, Of red, and white, and whiter still: She hath a glory from that sun, Who falls not from Olympus hill.