Explore "Venus in a Garden" by James Weldon Johnson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
'Twas at early morning, / The dawn was blushing in her purple bed, / When in a sweet, embowered garden / She, the fairest of the goddesses, / The lovely Venus, / Roamed amongst the roses white and red.
She sought for flowers / To make a garland / For her golden head.
Snow-white roses, blood-red roses, / In that sweet garden close, / Offered incense to the goddess: / Both the white and the crimson rose.
White roses, red roses, blossoming: / But the fair Venus knew / The crimson roses had gained their hue / From the hearts that for love had bled;
And the goddess made a garland / Gathered from the roses red.