of course I remember your sisters in the orchards, yellow-
green with a trace of rose or perched on market shelves
and there on rare occasions at home since
we were an apple and orange household
occasionally tangerine.
but when with sickness afflicted it was you
the canned variety so supreme, softened like moonlight
down the throat and soothing beyond the
dreams of children after a day at the Fair
listen when you're grieving and it is the pear sounds ringing
in the air that will always bring you back to goldeness
but how by what miracle did you appear lodged in with
the ever present dulling abundance
of the corn and string beans, o pears sliced in a pale
lite syrup not even on the list!
to come to me in this month's
food box from the pantry.
Whither the Mystery How or When
I will ponder until I question God in Heaven.
and prize you best
above all feasts on earth.
mary angela douglas 24 january 2016
P.S. Anyone (like myself) who must visit food pantries (church or otherwise) knows that some things will never be found there. Sliced pears is one of those things. You might as well expect caviar or champagne flavored chocolates. But always you will be given canned corn and canned green beans, some months, with boxed mac and cheese, that is all you will get and though you don't want to complain about the manna considering what happened in the Bible when the Israelites complained, still you know not to expect certain things ever.
Two times in seven years I have experienced a miraculous intervention in the food box that I can't explain. Once, with raspberry coffee cake (iced and barely a day old!)and recently, with sliced pears. O Thank You God for letting them slip through the cracks of the Tuna Based List of Acceptable, Non-Exempted Donations. I saw a list from Second Harvest Food Bank once by accident and it SPECIFICALLY FORBID any donations of a gourmet food type nature. I was shocked by this at the time as in my richer days, I had always imagined I would want to give to people who had to endure the embarrassment of asking for any food at all, something beyond wonderful. But the poor somehow must be punished even as they are graciously helped out of the ditch.
In the case of the raspberry coffee cake I ran out of the center quickly lest someone realize their mistake.
green with a trace of rose or perched on market shelves
and there on rare occasions at home since
we were an apple and orange household
occasionally tangerine.
but when with sickness afflicted it was you
the canned variety so supreme, softened like moonlight
down the throat and soothing beyond the
dreams of children after a day at the Fair
listen when you're grieving and it is the pear sounds ringing
in the air that will always bring you back to goldeness
but how by what miracle did you appear lodged in with
the ever present dulling abundance
of the corn and string beans, o pears sliced in a pale
lite syrup not even on the list!
to come to me in this month's
food box from the pantry.
Whither the Mystery How or When
I will ponder until I question God in Heaven.
and prize you best
above all feasts on earth.
mary angela douglas 24 january 2016
P.S. Anyone (like myself) who must visit food pantries (church or otherwise) knows that some things will never be found there. Sliced pears is one of those things. You might as well expect caviar or champagne flavored chocolates. But always you will be given canned corn and canned green beans, some months, with boxed mac and cheese, that is all you will get and though you don't want to complain about the manna considering what happened in the Bible when the Israelites complained, still you know not to expect certain things ever.
Two times in seven years I have experienced a miraculous intervention in the food box that I can't explain. Once, with raspberry coffee cake (iced and barely a day old!)and recently, with sliced pears. O Thank You God for letting them slip through the cracks of the Tuna Based List of Acceptable, Non-Exempted Donations. I saw a list from Second Harvest Food Bank once by accident and it SPECIFICALLY FORBID any donations of a gourmet food type nature. I was shocked by this at the time as in my richer days, I had always imagined I would want to give to people who had to endure the embarrassment of asking for any food at all, something beyond wonderful. But the poor somehow must be punished even as they are graciously helped out of the ditch.
In the case of the raspberry coffee cake I ran out of the center quickly lest someone realize their mistake.
No comments:
Post a Comment