“White as a lily, redder than a rose,
More splendid than a ruby oriental,
Your beauty I regard; no equal shows
White as a lily, redder than a rose.”

Guillaume de Machaut (c. 12951377), master musician of the middle ages, from the rondeaux Blanche com lys, plus que rose vermeille. From the anthology Lyrics of the Middle Ages, edited by James J. Wilhelm, 1990.