TO A CAULIFLOWER

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D.

A vegetable, bland of taste, and pale,

A tabula rasa which can be writ

With herbs and sauces, even steamed in ale.

A cabbage bud, a flower plain, made fit

For haut cuisine, a transformed un chou-fleur

By lemon squeezed, roasted walnuts, a dash

Of salt, a feast for any epicure

With buttered flavors of chicken, a cache

In a dish delectable of taste, if not

Une pièce de résisitance, un bon mot

In a cookpot, a toothsome polyglot

And a gustatory light fandango.

At a school reunion that once plain girl

Is now a knockout kicking up a swirl.

Copyright © Dana Prom Smith 2008