Red roses and red noses

My Latin reading group today was, for some end-of-year light relief after trying to make sense of Trithemius, reading Thomas a Kempis (and some members of the group were in a particularly silly mood). Which brought to mind this poem by Lord Berners:

Some people praise red roses
But I beg leave to say
That I prefer red noses -
Red noses are so gay.

A Kempis says we must not cling
To things that fade away.
Red noses last a lifetime
Red roses but a day.

Red roses blow but thrice a year,
In June, July and May.
But those who have red noses
Can blow them every day.