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| Tulip Fields in the Skagit Valley, Northwest Washington |
There was no doubt in my mind what poem I wanted to share this week for Poetry Friday. I can feel something new in my bones and in my head and in my skin and my lungs: Spring is coming, bringing the daffodils and tulips. Glory be, hip, hip, hooray, hallelujah!
Tulips
The tulips make me want to paint,
Something about the way they drop
Their petals on the tabletop
And do not wilt so much as faint,
Something about their burnt-out hearts,
Something about their pallid stems
Wearing decay like diadems,
Parading finishes like starts,
Something about the way they twist
As if to catch the last applause,
And drink the moment through long straws,
And how, tomorrow, they’ll be missed.
The way they’re somehow getting clearer,
The tulips make me want to see—
The tulips make the other me
(The backwards one who’s in the mirror,
The one who can’t tell left from right),
Glance now over the wrong shoulder
To watch them get a little older
And give themselves up to the light.
Poetry Friday this week is being hosted by Robyn over at Life on the Deckle Edge. Head over there to see what other people have posted. And if you're in the mood, check out a few sources of inspiration I'm sharing (including this poem) over at Books Around the Table.
What a lovely poem! Hooray for tulips and anticipating spring!
ReplyDeleteThe 'spring' in your step is infectious, Julie - thanks for sharing! What a fantastic poem. "And do not wilt so much as faint" - ha! Love each stanza.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful poem! Love the last lines:
ReplyDelete" To watch them get a little older
And give themselves up to the light."
Here's to spring!
As it's snowing hard here, I am looking across the room to see the sunflowers I brought home yesterday, a bit of sunshine in my life, waiting for spring so I can observe each flowers' way of being, just like A.E. Stallings, "As if to catch the last applause," Love this, Julie!
ReplyDeleteHooray for spring! I can feel it in my bones, too!
ReplyDeleteOh, those long straws, and that last line. What a lovely poem.
ReplyDeleteMy tulips are still buried under snow at this point. That is if the squirrels haven't relocated all of them! There is something about tulips, though, isn't there? Dreaming of spring! -- Christie @ https://wonderingandwondering.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteI love this - thank you!
ReplyDelete