"The Last Rose of Summer" is a poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. He wrote it in 1805, while staying at Jenkinstown Park in County Kilkenny, Ireland, where he was said to have been inspired by a specimen of Rosa 'Old Blush'. The poem is set to a traditional tune called "Aislean an Oigfear", or "The Young Man's Dream", which was transcribed by Edward Bunting in 1792, based on a performance by harper Denis Hempson at the Belfast Harp Festival. The poem and the tune together were published in December 1813 in volume 5 of Thomas Moore's A Selection of Irish Melodies. The original piano accompaniment was written by John Andrew Stevenson, several other arrangements followed in the 19th and 20th centuries.
“Tis the last rose of Summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone.”
The Last Rose of Summer, st. 1.
Irish Melodies http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/moore.html (1807–1834)
“When true hearts lie wither'd
And fond ones are flown,
Oh, who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?”
The Last Rose of Summer.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
