Roses are red,

Violets are… blue?

But—violets aren’t blue--they’re violet.

These are the beginning lines of the most well-known love poems,

And there’s already a mistake?

How much love can be true in those four lines?


I can’t be the first one to notice this.

Who would go and insist such a silly thing?

Who was the mistaken man to write this?

And why did everyone just agree to this outright lie?


How is this fair to the flower?

Because I suspect that they’re said to be blue

Because there’s no word to rhyme with “purple.”

Does that give anyone the right to change a violet’s color—

To change the way it was grown?


Yes, violet is very close to blue in color,

But being close isn’t good enough, now is it?

“Roses are red, violets are almost blue” simply isn’t poetic.

So one person decides to change its color,

And everyone follows his trend.


What do the violets think of this?

Are they tricked into thinking that they are blue like everyone else was?

Do they save their crying for the morning to disguise their tears with the dew?

Do they bloom and hate themselves for not being the “correct” shade?


Violets can’t help the fact that they bloom purple.

They’ll never be able to please the “poetic” humans.

And they shouldn’t have to.

Violets are violet, and they’re beautiful that way.



Nothing should be blue just to rhyme in someone else’s poem.