The Pink Carnation

I may walk until I’m fainting, I may write until I’m blinded,

I might drink until my back teeth are afloat,

But I can’t forget my ruin and the happy days behind it,

When I wore a pink carnation in my coat.



Oh, I thought that time could conquer, and I thought my heart would harden,

But it sends a sudden lump into my throat,

When I think of what I have been, and the cottage and the garden,

When I wore a pink carnation in my coat.



God forgive you, girl, and bless you! Let no line of mine distress you –

I am sorry for the bitter lines I wrote;

But remember, and think kindly, for we met and married blindly,

When I wore a pink carnation in my coat.

Henry Lawson