PROVIDENCE
The Tree of Love-and-Sorrow’s fruit
He totally consumed –
The husk, the core, the bitter-sweet,
The plucked, the cut assumed –
The error, truth – the evil, good –
The knife, the bowl received –
The pulp, the seeds – ironic feast
So tenderly perceived –
The sacrament of juice and grain –
The mix of spoil and corn –
Ambivalence of touch and slice –
The fibers knit and torn.
The sieve of taste and abstinence
Fulfilling hunger’s scale –
The wrack of sustenance and want –
The brief abundant meal –
The give and take of nourishment –
The produce dried or fresh –
He had an appetite for hope –
The Provenance of Flesh.
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