Ghosts…

The cool weather we endured throughout February and March this year suited its arrangements perfectly, for a warm spell during the early months tends to hurry it up, and then the flowers are liable to damage by their two enemies, frost and wind….Avoid planting in a frost pocket, or in a position where [flowers: in this case the blooms of a magnolia tree] will be exposed to the rays of a warm sun after a frosty night…

-Vita Sackville-West
The Joy of Gardening : 1958

They instantly became like ghosts; covered in white sheets like children on Halloween.  Their protection of white waved and beckoned in the rain and wind which threatened and warned. I assumed this shroud of comfort would get them through the worst of it but when I awoke this morning, the frost, although anticipated and prepared for never came.
The lilacs I cut for the encore of winter was all in vain, and instead, I only ironically hastened their death.  To think, I tore off their leaves in the cold violent wind and smashed their stems while shaking my fist at the sky – it was all for not.
When I uncovered them this morning the lilacs bounced gleefully in the morning sun – and like prisoners finally given their freedom after proven innocence, the flowers laughed at me and smirked at my efforts of authority and wisdom.