The morning came in sideways
Through the curtain
Like it wasn't sure
It had the nerve to stay
I'd been down so long
The up felt almost foreign
But something in the light
Said not today

The coffee's strong
The window needs a cleaning
The cat is on the sill
Doing what cats do
And somehow all of this
The whole unremarkable morning
Is making me feel
Like the world is new

Everything is coming up tulips
Bold and brief
And asking nothing back
I didn't plant them
Didn't earn them
They just showed up in the crack

Everything is coming up tulips
Standing in the ordinary light
You can't explain the bloom
You can't
You just lean into it
And it's alright

I called my mother
She picked up on the first ring
We both laughed
Like we'd broken some small law
We skipped the parts
Where history gets heavy
Just let the day be light
And so it was

There's a man downstairs
Who feeds the neighborhood pigeons
Like it's a job
Like someone's keeping score
And I used to find it strange
But now I find it
Something I'd be sad
To not look down at anymore

Everything is coming up tulips
Red and a-blazing
Stubborn as a fact
I didn't plan for this
I wasn't ready
But readiness is overrated
That's a trap

Everything is coming up tulips
Standing in the ordinary light
You can't explain the bloom
You can't
You just lean into it
And it's alright

Some days are just days
The sky's a working sky
The world does what it does
And nobody knows why

But today the light held still
Long enough to mean a thing
And the tulips by the stoop
Bloomed like they were answering

Everything is coming up
Everything is coming up
Everything is
Tulips
