October Tulips

We know the trees
October tulips in the deer clearings
The cob covered trees the Easter spider strung
The pilot's daughter blows dew on
Dew on October tulips.

We know the road
October tulips show us past the houses
To the sand spit cradle knolls
Past the window where the orphan sleeps in glass
Dew on October tulips.

There is the boat
Uncovered by the storm
Past the spume funnel full of sand and a rope end shows.
Pull it and we climb into the flowery earth
Undersea October tulips.

There's the sea pine
Salter than the deer, the sea-apple hedgehog
With a snake in its pikes paddles past
The ambergris cliff we climb with our toes
Grassy sky October tulips.

October tulips is my love
You, the pilot's daughter and me
Three as a baby in its mother's tuck
Over cob cleared wood and wind-dimpled water
And dew on October tulips.

Kenneth Tindall

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