On the cusp of tulip season
in our mid-spring garden
colours break through damp grey:
pie-eyed crocus, fried-egg plants,
daffodils, snowdrops, keen annuals.
Blossom fills out the teetering branches.
Somewhere else (not far, not wild),
on this Palm Sunday, Flower Day,
visits and greetings, tables laid
for those who’ve come to say
Честит имен ден!
in living room, hall or kitchen.
The smell of loam and petals
the same in both our houses.
Sunday 13 April this year is both Palm Sunday and Flower Day – a name-day for all those in Bulgaria whose names derive from flowers.
Images: Marina Shiderova; text: Tom Phillips
