THE DAFFODILS!

They're coming up!
But it's time to get ready for work,
don't get distracted!
O.K.

Wait! Look outside,
look out the kitchen window into the yard!

Lots of daffodils! Lots!
Spanish moss-tinged, tall stems and leaves;.
and brightest YELLOW nodding flowers.
Rain is pressing down,
petals droop, leaves go limp,
but yellow is winning,
flowers unfurl even through big sloppy drops.

Forget about time, forget staying on schedule!
Grab muddy workboots
and a shovel and start digging.
Deep! Very deep. Those bulbs are in deep.

Why dig, why yank out budding daffodils?
To put them in pots of course!
Pots with daffodils are something else on the kitchen table!
Spring comes dashing inside!

Maybe, if the bulbs do ok in the pots,
if they continue to bloom,
maybe I'll take a pot in for little hyper kids.
For kids to watch, to see,
to see the stems reach up, higher,
to see the buds open up larger,
to see the brightest screaming
YELLOW as could ever be imagined!

Blooming bigger,
more exuberantly each day.
Eventually the blossoms fading,
dying,
loosing color,
turning papery-brown and crumpled.

But the story's not over,
the bulb is storing hidden life.
Trim the leaves,
cut them off in handfuls for the compost pile.

Leave the bulbs in the ground
and they'll multiply,
there will be mounds and mounds of blooms.

Pull them up to dry,
they'll store up life,
and energy to save for the spring to come.

You cannot deter those dafodils!
Now get yourself to work.
O.K.