Roses are Red my Love

There is an old song by Bobby Vinton titled Roses Are Red My Love. My Dad used to sing it to me when I was elementary school age. At first I had a strong dislike for the song, and then it escalated into hate. The song made me cry, no matter how hard I tried not to. And, my Dad being the jokester he is, would sing Roses Are Red My Love just to annoy me. From the tune alone I would have tears streaming down my face.

My Dad was perplexed, a six year old couldn’t relate to the topic of romantic love.

The song lyrics are:

A long, long time ago On graduation day You handed me your book I signed this way: Roses are red, my love. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet, my love. But not as sweet as you. We dated through high school. And when the big day came, I wrote into your book, Next to my name: Roses are red, my love. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet, my love. But not as sweet as you. Then I went far away And you found someone new I read your letter dear And I wrote back to you: Roses are red, my love. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet, my love. But good luck may god bless you. Is that your little girl? She looks a lot like you. Someday some boy will write In her book, too. Roses are red, my love. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet, my love. But not as sweet as you


Being the detective that my Dad is he began to drill me. What part of the song makes you sad Ashley? Several songs I sing are sad, how come you cry at this one? My reply was I didn’t know…..

It is only now that I’m able to articulate my thoughts on the subject. Simply stated, I can’t stand the feeling of regret woven through out the song. The little girl was a symbol of what was lost, what could have been.

An ironic part of regret is its correlation with unforgiveness. I say I’m a forgiving person … but you know how I measure the truth of my statement? By monitoring the level of regret’s in my life… God uses all things for his glory, even our failures. So when I live in a place of regret (motivated by feelings) either I haven’t forgiven, my self, God or someone else.

The highest concrete evidence I have is, I’m tired of crying……. crying over myself, crying to God and crying about someone else. Forgiveness is honey that heals each broken place. Here is a question I would like to purpose: is there anything in your life that you regret? And if the answer is yes then maybe your not excepting the grace God gave you, to forgive..

Personally I don’t want to look back like the man in Roses are Red my Love who sang

Is that your little girl? She looks a lot like you. Someday some boy will write In her book, too.

It is that song, that melody of regret, which constantly persuades me to forgive.