As you ripen, soften, and age; please do not forget
It is these brown spots and wrinkled skin that draws them to the kitch.
Those pale green bananas, their young skins so firm and tight,
Or hard and glossy hothouse toms; do not a meal invite.
As every good chef knows, it is the sugar content – that age determined trait,
That invites the nose, delights the tongue, and makes the best mealtime bait!
They can slap five labels on your back; fair-trade, new crop, organic;
De Costa Rica…and don’t forget…picked by an hispanic!
But, like all labels, they don’t really matter,
So long as when we bite, what we taste is warm and aromatic.
I thank you all for listening, to this yummy undertaking.
Join me! And let me join you!
So we can cherish all that we are, after years of over-giving.
And please remember, what comes with age,
Now that the years have peeled and plucked us,
So fine and sweet; so softly rich…
Has well been worth the wait.