There once was a vast field of tulips

How beautiful they made the world

Pinks and yellows

Flushes and blushes

An arraignment of beauty all through the valley

But among the tulips

There was one who was rare

One of the prettiest pinks

Unparalleled among the rest

Proud and lovely Rosalie

Thin green stem and voluptuously elegant head

The softest white streaked through her petals

Such a darling pink

To her saffron-colored neighbor, she was a diamond in the rough

The most beautiful of them all

And he couldn’t wait for her to open.

When the season was upon them,

Was his whisper to her,

“Open your petals, my Rosalie!”

But proud Rosalie sadly refused.

When all other tulips stretched their petals to the sky,

Soaking in sunshine and rain

Vainglorious Rosalie preferred to stay closed.

Perhaps it was her fear of the rain

Perhaps she didn’t want that much sun

Dear Saffron, bless his heart

His petals grew so wide that they could almost touch Rosalie

If only she would open hers too.

Even when all the tulips encouraged her so

Rosalie sank into her lonely world of woe

And Saffron cried a sprinkling of tears

For lovely Rosalie

“Not everyone opens their petals”

He heard his neighbors say

“It is their choice

And their choice it must always be.”

Months passed and from sadness over his Rosalie

Saffron drooped and began to wither

But then late in the spring

Something extraordinary occurred

He felt a touch at his petals

And there to his amazement was Rosalie

Petals open and free

“They call me ‘single late’” she said with a grin

“After all other tulips have bloomed

Then I arrive on the scene

Because of the wait

My stem is sturdier and true

To withstand heavy wind and rains

So grow back up, dear Saffron,” she said

“I will help you live.”