Love and flowers and happy birthday

FLOWER TIME

I saw you first in jonquil time,
When you were bathed in grace.
You sat aglow with fire sublime,
And golden shone your face.

I loved you first in lilac time.
A bloom I plucked for you.
I wrote you verse with song and rhyme.
I hoped you loved me too.

I kissed you first in tulip time,
It must have been a sign.
The buds and we were in our prime
When your two lips met mine.

I married you in daisy time
One summer's longest day.
We traded rings and heard bells chime,
We pledged always to stay.

Too soon we've come to aster time.
The days are shorter now.
Would stealing some be such a crime?
We'll make it right somehow.

Should we endure 'til wintertime,
The time when flowers sleep, 
Dreams we'll share of a gentler clime
Where we no more shall weep.

(2016)

Notes: My love was born on D-Day, and I don’t think I’ve ever failed to remember her birthday. It’s an appropriate date because she conquered me from the beginning. I didn’t stand a chance.

Flowers did play a significant role in our courtship. I really did pull over and pick some roadside lilacs before our first date. (And she really was glowing the very first time I saw her. A story for another time.)