by Naomi Shihab Nye

[mery-bast.livejournal.com]

The Traveling Onion

"It is believed that the onion originally came from India. In Egypt it was an object of worship-- why I haven't been able to find out. From Egypt the onion entered Greece and on to Italy, thence into all of Europe."- Better Living Cookbook

When I think how far the onion has traveled
just to enter my stew today, I could kneel and praise
all small forgotten miracles,
crackly paper peeling on the drainboard,
pearly layers in smooth agreement,
the way the knife enters onion
and onion falls apart on the chopping block,
a history revealed.

And I would never scold the onion
for causing tears.
It is right that tears fall
for something small and forgotten.
How at meal, we sit to eat,
commenting on texture of meat or herbal aroma
but never on the translucence of onion,
now limp, now divided,
or it's traditionally honorable career:
For the sake of others,
disappear.

William Shakespeare - (1564 - 1616) - Sonnet CXXIX

[flowersperish.livejournal.com]

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; adn, till action, lust
Is perjur'd, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, and not to trust;
Enjoy'd, no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as swallowed bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof,---and prov'd, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos'd; behind, a dream.
And this the wold will knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.