Tis' the last rose of Summer, Avonic funeral song by sir Thomas Less

‘Tis the last rose of Summer,
Left blooming alone; All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone; No flower of her kindred,
No rose-bud is nigh, To reflect back her blushes
Or give sigh for sigh!
So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay, And from Love’s shining circle
The gems drop away! When true hearts lie withered,
And fond ones are flown, Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?


(This is the real world poem by Thomas Moore)

History

This funeral right has been around since the Claudian clans of the Third Age. Though the words may have changed over the centuries, the meaning stays the same; a single, surviving flower is used as a metaphor for the sadness of being left to carry on alone after the people we care for have gone.

Execution

The deceased is wrapped in oil soaked linens, placed on a carefully set stack of logs. The logs are set on fire, while the closest living relative or relation to the dead sings the funeral derge.

Components and tools

oil, linen, fire, logs.

Observance

It is a song usually sung in Avonland, and on occasion northern Alberians and Marjolesians.