The Most Beautiful Word

Pursed lips of sheriff-like authority

Puff the word tariff with promise to be

Trade warfare’s path to massive wealth

The world has yet to see

Such rhetoric so saddens me

As I stroll vast tulip fields;

Wherein a special friendship lies

Born of a wartime shield

Armored tanks in full surround

Dutch royalty amid harm’s way;

A large wintry country opened doors

Extended refuge with no delay

War ended; celebrations abundant

Emissaries one hundred thousand strong

Set sail without fanfare

To be planted on Ottawa’s front lawn

Sheathed in green cupped petals skyward

A blanket salute waving in the breeze

Brilliant orange bold red and white

Emblematic friendship extending across the sea

Eighty times this path repeats

Bearing springtime gratitude;

At the helm the tulip stands

For me, the word of most magnitude

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORD - SYNOPSIS

In 1945 the Netherlands sent Canada 100,000 tulips as a thank you for sheltering the Dutch royal family during World War 2 and for sending soldiers to help liberate the Netherlands.  The tulips appear in Ottawa each spring ever since as a symbol of this bonded friendship.

It saddens me to think the word tariff can ever usurp the tulip as the most beautiful, meaningful word we have today.