the tulip

long ago

very long ago

a persian boy

named ferhad

fell in love

ferhad fell in love

with a girl named shirin

she did not feel

in her heart

what he held in his heart

and so

he went out into the desert

to die

alone

in the fullness of night

he cried tears

on the sand

tears

that became tulips

tulips

like his beloved shirin

the most beautiful

of wildflowers

the song

one cold night

frost and wind

worked their way

inside a tiny hairline fracture

and separated these two

portions

of rock

~

the pine needles

gathered in and around

and the moss

threaded its way

across the space

frond by frond

until once more

the two were connected

as intimately

as one

and the

humming of the earth

and the whispering of the sky

the singing of the birds

and the chattering of the little animals

was the music

that sang the song

of their love

a moment's clarity

above

and below

the conjoined terms

of our being

we are

a fractal essence

of the wholeness

we intuitively

grasp

in that moment

of clarity

as our reflected face

emerges

in

the convoluted surface

of a river

vapour threads

look up

and see

one hundred wishes

leaving

vapour threads

stitched

across the sky