The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here
Sylvia Plath ~ Tulips
bulbs lit by the molten core
not the cold coming predicated by a February
and so they push up inquisitively after the daffs
those narcissistic beacons bred to spread resplendence
all mudded now and fallen like soldiers on the Somme
it's enough to make the tulips keep their turbans
below the parapet until the shrill whistle of the wren
signals a restlessness for Spring
in the plain glass tulip vase, five red blooms contort
out of flat tongued leaves they worm their way
to the wintry light, ruddy as the martyred Valentine
Sherry’s poetry prompt ~ Piggyback Poems
PoetryPix 
Ah, I like the cadence here. The wordplay is evocative and the atmosphere is of a winter chill nourishing the seeds of the spring. And that borrowed line provides such a great framework to the entire tone of the poem, as well as its imagery.
-HA
thank you HA – and what a coincidence that we chose the same poem – borrowing different lines that set us off in very different directions
I so love this! Love the idea of tulips arriving in winter, keeping their heads below the parapet, waiting for the all clear from the wren. I cant tell you how much I enjoyed this poem!
and I very much enjoyed your prompt so thank you Sherry
I did so enjoy “the clear call from the wren”. the tulips wait as all things in the spring must wait for that call.
sometimes with mild winters daffs & tulips rush ahead – excitable – and then winter brings a last but damaging blast