To Brighten up a Dull Day

They said there were to have been some showers today but so far they haven't arrived. If I had known that I would have gone to the opening of the NZ IceFest, it sounds really interesting. If tomorrow isn't raining I will walk over to North Hagley Park to see the sled dogs in action in the dog-sled racing event.

I thought these tulips looked lovely and colourful for our dull overcast day. They are just getting past their best.

Tulips
By A. E. Stallings
The tulips make me want to paint,
Something about the way they drop
Their petals on the tabletop
And do not wilt so much as faint,

Something about their burnt-out hearts,
Something about their pallid stems
Wearing decay like diadems,
Parading finishes like starts,

Something about the way they twist
As if to catch the last applause,
And drink the moment through long straws,
And how, tomorrow, they’ll be missed.

The way they’re somehow getting clearer,
The tulips make me want to see—
The tulips make the other me
(The backwards one who’s in the mirror,

The one who can’t tell left from right),
Glance now over the wrong shoulder
To watch them get a little older
And give themselves up to the light.