Tulips By the Sea

While I was walking by the dunes
Amid the swaying grass,
I spied a picnic table
Away down by the shore.
And on its weather beaten planks,
Was a pitted, rusted bucket.
Was a bunch of bright red smiling tulips.
They were a splash of brilliant startling color,
Amid the dull greens and browns of the shore of the
Storm torn sea.
They smiled to me and called me close,
They told me things we never knew,
Somehow I knew these flowers,
So simple, so mundane.
But they knew me, and they spoke to me,
They told me they were sorry,
For leaving me so young.
They told me to be strong for them,
That they were watching close.
Then the mighty winds, swept them out to sea.
Then the tears began to come,
Down my face they poured,
Like a mighty waterfall.
At that moment, there was no joy for me.
For the tulips had left me all alone,
They left me all alone, down by the
Storm torn sea.
I wailed and pleaded with the heavens,
"Oh send them back to me!"
But the dull gray sky above,
To me gave no reply.
Oh why did they have to leave me,
Those tulips by the sea.