A Tulip was I

• A tulip was I, walking down Spring-farm,
  and in June I was removed.
  Dazed from summer's humid glow,
  and the sun-kindled flames
  that were released from my icy hands.
  For I flourished in the month of December,
  with frost hanging from my limbs,
  I looked up, to see children's faces,
  ready to pick my body, food-colored stem,
  a life within a vase--no life I desired,
  so I hid my petals from their glares;
  and they shouted the pattern of my name.
  And as I wilted, and my softness was no more,
  turning blue, I saw the window-cat
  sitting blankly on the edge,
  In his mouth, a tulip--my desired end.