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With petite red carpet petals, this sign of spring sits perched on celery,
high above all ground cover.
Like an overturned umbrella, this masterpiece holds a purpose, too;
spreading life on the ground after it has finished telling its story.
Even though this tulip seems old to the human eye, this blossom
screams SPRING to plants and animals alike.
Sending a signal that spring is finally here, and life may begin again
from where it has left off last winter.
As delicate as a shard of glass, and as strong as a metal chain, this
survives rain, blazing temperatures, and freezing conditions, too.
Strong enough to stand alone, without nourishment or not even a single
drop of dew at times, and somehow this flower keeps an array of colors
as beautiful as one of Picasso’s paintings.
With a mind of its own, this tulip shares beauty with all else around it.
Bending in the wind with its flexible stem like a professional gymnast.
Clinging to the earth with all its might like a small child holding on
to its mother.
How can this flower hold so much importance and beauty when
it seems so small to the outside world?
In many years to come petals from this tulip will fall with agony
to the ground, with the stem following shortly after.
This tulip will soon decompose, and then?
Defying all thoughts of being dead, little green leaves will appear
from the ground, growing, sprouting, bursting from little seeds
that the tulip shed last spring.
As these plants flourish throughout the next spring, they become
little reminders of this extravagant painting.
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