The Last Rose of Summer

"The Last Rose of Summer" is a poem by Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779-1852). The poem was published in his Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems, which also included "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms." The poem was set to music later by the Irish composer John Stevenson, and it is this tune that Sergeant Cuff repeatedly hums while trying to figure out the case of the stolen diamond. Below is the text of the poem:

'Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone;

No flower of her kindred,

No rosebud is nigh,

To reflect back her blushes,

To give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!

To pine on the stem;

Since the lovely are sleeping,

Go, sleep thou with them.

Thus kindly I scatter,

Thy leaves o'er the bed,

Where thy mates of the garden

Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,

When friendships decay,

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?

One of the reasons Cuff is fond of this tune is his love of roses. Whenever he begins to figure out pieces of the puzzle, he begins to hum this tune. However, the tune may signal that this case will be his last, as he heads into retirement after he supposes he is done trying to locate the missing diamond.