The Deer Ate My Tulip Tops Poem by David McLansky

Sheared them off, their petals cropped;
The blazing reds, the yellow creams,
Have disappeared as in a dream;
I will not hunt down doe and fawn
Catch them as they cross the lawn,
In foggy mist take their life,
Shoot them, skin them with a knife;
I’ve seen the petals through my screens,
At first light bobbing in speckled beams;
The beauty that I chanced upon
Was sufficient in the dawn;
It seared a memory in my brain,
Its’ beauty always shall remain.