ANOTHER POEM for mothers out there especially my daughter Linda Hower Bates and my MOD (my other daughter) Heather Hower.

Of Daughters and Tulips

My daughter is a mother of two

Raising her is like planting

A tulip in the garden.

You start with a good seed.

Then find an ideal and the best environment

Where it can flourish

First under some controlled space,

Ultimately leaving it room

To spread with luxurious abandon.

Prepare a bed,

Gently blanket it with rich organic matter,

Sprinkle magic dust of bone meal,

Give it plenty of nourishment and water.

Keep it from harm.

Fence it if you must.

Protect them from marauding midnight deer.

But always,

With care, patience, attention, and love

Nurture, nurture, nurture.

Provide it with everything within your power

The things it needs to be self-sufficient.

But once it matures

Be discerning.

Know that it will do its own thing

It will know when to unfold

Its gorgeous petals

To spread joy.

And all you have to do at that point,

Is to watch it grow.

To enjoy it

Bloom, bloom, bloom.

For Linda Hower Bates

Happy Mothers Day.

Thanks for the two lovely blooms!

~from Mom, 5.13.2018