![164_1dying_tulips_for_web[1]](http://jameswoodward.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/164_1dying_tulips_for_web1.jpg)
one day a day woke up and
was sky, air, light
and itself. Later, evening
tapped my shoulder:
a reminder, a privilege,
a job to do. Record, it said
the elegance of the day’s decline,
and the perfect curves
of all that is left
of a tulip.
Denise Levertov