I saw three tulips in a row
As if in mimicry of rows of stone;
They stood a flimsy guard upon the way
That I have walked today,
And walked alone —

So recently, just shaking hands,
Before you left to come out here to sleep;
And now these silent guards keep watch
Of one lone new dug swatch
Where you’ve your keep —

Life tears at us, and rips us, to
The core of what we’ve been and are;
And friends just float away like
Lost balloons
The spring is new mown in the grass,
And what was near now seems so far,
The clouds, they stack, for
Gathering monsoons

A glance: three tulips in a row,
Three brothers duty-borne and newly free:
So much that once seemed far is near,
Like history – or destiny –
And my despairing wish
You still
Were here