Tulips #1

I cut the white tulips.
   They were almost gone.
      Petals dangling down,
         ready to fall to the ground.

They still smell fresh,
   as flowers do... in the clear 
      glass vase
         where I put them on my desk.

Others bloom now,
   still others are yet to bloom
      now and next year.

It's time I left them for a while
   to multiply, and grow, and flourish.
      Instead of transplanting them each October.

~ April 21, 1991 in the Calumet