| COFFEE |
mikerembis
|
In all of my travels | 1 |
In all I have seen | 2 |
The key to tranquility lies in a bean | 3 |
Not pinto or kidney | 4 |
Not lima or green | 5 |
But dark, rich and bitter | 6 |
And dancing with cream | 7 |
To be found in the streets, Cosmopolitans know | 8 |
“It’s legal to brew!” | 9 |
So they let the bean grow | 10 |
And it’s picked, Oh so gently! | 11 |
With hill climbers hands | 12 |
And sent off to market to far away lands | 13 |
Now everyone knows, | 14 |
As the bean pickers do | 15 |
That nothing is better than fresh home made brew | 16 |
The beans must be picked | 17 |
And same day be roasted | 18 |
Or else you lose flavor | 19 |
So pickers have boasted | 20 |
The beans are then best when they’re crushed right away | 21 |
And boiled in crystal clear water, THAT DAY! | 22 |
It’s what captures the essence of dewdrops, they say | 23 |
That wait with the beans as they ripen away | 24 |
So as you sit idly | 25 |
And look at your cup | 26 |
Think of how much it took, | 27 |
To fill up | 28 |
Somebody climbed a mountain for you | 29 |
And brought the beans home | 30 |
And roasted them too! | 31 |
And somebody took them | 32 |
By land and by sea | 33 |
In hundred pound bags, | 34 |
Through customs, with fees! | 35 |
So if you complain that the price is too much | 36 |
I counter by saying | 37 |
“You don’t pay enough” | 38 |
And if you insist on engaging my clutch | 39 |
I have a suggestion | 40 |
“Then – | 41 |
Don’t drink the stuff” | 42 |
I’d rather pay more so that you may have less | 43 |
I’d rather enjoy what I know while you guess | 44 |
And if you should wonder | 45 |
Why my feelings are such | 46 |
I’ll now tell the story, Why I like it so much | 47 |
On a cold winter day | 48 |
As I sat all alone | 49 |
Not a friend did come over | 50 |
Not a friend did I phone | 51 |
Not a morsel of food in the house could I find | 52 |
But a few cubes of sugar and a tin full of grind | 53 |
I studied the can and read the directions | 54 |
And learned, Even I | 55 |
Could now brew to perfection | 56 |
I opened the tin | 57 |
The aroma I savored | 58 |
And wondered how I would enjoy such a flavor | 59 |
I put on the water | 60 |
It came to a boil | 61 |
Then tossed in the grounds | 62 |
And the water did roil | 63 |
The brew churned and foamed, | 64 |
Turned from brown into black | 65 |
And from that very moment I knew I had the knack | 66 |
I soon poured a mug | 67 |
And so slowly it flowed | 68 |
Like heavenly mud from the banks of the Ob’ | 69 |
I dropped in my sugar | 70 |
And poured in my cream | 71 |
And then watched them both | 72 |
Dissolve in the steam | 73 |
I started to wonder if this were a dream | 74 |
And found this concoction, | 75 |
Quite simply, Supreme | 76 |
I then took a sip | 77 |
And the taste was so bitter | 78 |
And creamy! And sweet! All at once made me jitter | 79 |
‘Twas like kissing my wife for the very first time | 80 |
And for once in my life, | 81 |
Having reason to rhyme! | 82 |
I finished the mug | 83 |
And although satisfied | 84 |
I then poured a second | 85 |
For I felt so alive | 86 |
I had found a new friend and it came in a can | 87 |
Like a Genie whose bottle | 88 |
You find in the sand | 89 |
I soon went to shops where the congregates drink | 90 |
And share wistful stories | 91 |
Or sit and just think | 92 |
And learned from my friends | 93 |
That there’s more, so much more | 94 |
There are beans in the world | 95 |
You can’t buy in a store | 96 |
So packing my bags and my mug | 97 |
For the road | 98 |
I set out to find out | 99 |
Which beans are not sold | 100 |
In stores and in shops in my part of the earth | 101 |
The beans that – So Precious! | 102 |
They don’t know their worth | 103 |
I traveled on foot to the land that lies South | 104 |
Only to pleasure my craving, | 105 |
My mouth | 106 |
Yet in every shop | 107 |
It seemed all I could find | 108 |
Was imported, dry roasted Columbian grind | 109 |
It all was quite tasty, | 110 |
Yet something it lacked | 111 |
That tingling sensation you get in your back | 112 |
When you’ve just drawn the Ace from the top of the stack | 113 |
And the look on your face that says | 114 |
“I’m the one, Jack!” | 115 |
To hillsides I climbed in Brazil and Peru | 116 |
Just hoping to find | 117 |
That one special brew | 118 |
The one that would tell me | 119 |
“I love you, too!” | 120 |
I know it sounds crazy but what could I do? | 121 |
A madman possessed | 122 |
The stories repeated | 123 |
In spite of the tales | 124 |
I dared undefeated | 125 |
To find the black bean that bleeds when it’s heated | 126 |
With the essence of dewdrops | 127 |
I move on, unimpeded | 128 |
To every hill in the Andes I roamed | 129 |
In every village and valley | 130 |
I combed | 131 |
Every camp, Every hut, | 132 |
Every one I could find | 133 |
Was drinking imported Columbian grind | 134 |
“Enough is enough!” | 135 |
I said with a laugh | 136 |
“I’m going to Europe to see what they quaff” | 137 |
Away I did go | 138 |
On the ocean by ship | 139 |
The porter then spoke | 140 |
As we pulled from the slip | 141 |
“Rare and exotic are blends you will find, | 142 |
Our menu is best, and unmatched! | 143 |
When you dine – | 144 |
The choices from Kona to rich Danish drip | 145 |
Are better than any you’ve had on your trip” | 146 |
I tried every mocha libation they had | 147 |
Every espresso | 148 |
And found not one bad | 149 |
Yet mug after mug | 150 |
However I tried | 151 |
I’d still found not one to be | 152 |
Satisfied | 153 |
In ten days and nights we took harbor again | 154 |
I called to the porter | 155 |
“I thank you, My Friend! | 156 |
The beverage we’ve shared have been tasty indeed | 157 |
But I’m off to find more” | 158 |
And he bid me “Godspeed!” | 159 |
I trekked to the Northernmost lands I could reach | 160 |
Where they sweeten the drinks | 161 |
With orange or peach | 162 |
But the brew is so bland | 163 |
For the beans are so old | 164 |
I knew right away | 165 |
It was South I should go | 166 |
In Paris and Naples | 167 |
They carry rich roasts | 168 |
Waiters are quick to attend to their posts | 169 |
But the beans are not special | 170 |
Though the scent fills the air | 171 |
It’s only dark roasted Columbian Fare! | 172 |
I sailed the Aegean | 173 |
Where the Turks and the Greeks | 174 |
Serve the brew like it’s syrup | 175 |
So I stayed there for weeks | 176 |
But that something, | 177 |
Was missing | 178 |
And I soon ventured on | 179 |
To Kenya and Congo | 180 |
And lands far beyond | 181 |
But the elephant brew, | 182 |
As they call it down there | 183 |
Was so strong and virile | 184 |
I sprouted some hair! | 185 |
And then I set out on the Indian sea | 186 |
Where many an Island was waiting for me | 187 |
These islands so lost and so rich and so green | 188 |
I was certain that one, | 189 |
ONLY ONE, had the bean | 190 |
I stayed to the South on the edge of the land | 191 |
And asked all the natives that I found on the sand | 192 |
If the mountains had plants | 193 |
That they serve into drink | 194 |
And found that they didn’t | 195 |
But that they had a link | 196 |
To a land in the East where they trade off their fruits | 197 |
For bags full of seeds | 198 |
And boxes of roots | 199 |
So they drew me a map | 200 |
And they pointed “Out There!” | 201 |
I abandoned the waves and I took to the air | 202 |
My pilot was kind and he took me to Java | 203 |
Where jungles are dense | 204 |
And mountains belch lava | 205 |
Where pelicans soar with the bats | 206 |
And the trees | 207 |
Have squirrels who fly without | 208 |
Even a breeze | 209 |
The flowers sprout wide | 210 |
And as tall as a man | 211 |
They’ve been growing here since | 212 |
The day time began | 213 |
And up in the hills I was told I should go | 214 |
Where the rains never stop | 215 |
And the big flowers grow | 216 |
So I hiked and I plodded | 217 |
Through mud filled with leeches | 218 |
I scampered and scurried to the Easternmost reaches | 219 |
Of the isle where the land fell away at my feet | 220 |
And found myself cliff bound and | 221 |
About to retreat | 222 |
When a man with a mule | 223 |
Hauling bags full of beans | 224 |
Rounded the cliff with a boy in his teens | 225 |
They were headed for market | 226 |
To sell all their stock | 227 |
But sold me a handful | 228 |
Wrapped up in a sock | 229 |
I roasted the beans right there on the cliff | 230 |
And ground them myself with a rock | 231 |
And a stiff | 232 |
Piece of wood that I found on the hill up above | 233 |
And soon brewed myself | 234 |
A cup full of love | 235 |
The brew was so bitter | 236 |
And crudely unique | 237 |
I knew it the moment it entered my cheek | 238 |
The bean grew nearby, | 239 |
But this was not the one | 240 |
To the North! On a hill, | 241 |
Where there’s even less sun | 242 |
I knew I should go for I knew it was there | 243 |
Only five hundred miles | 244 |
But not by the air | 245 |
For the land there remained untamed and uncharted | 246 |
It was not for the weak | 247 |
Or the feeble fainthearted | 248 |
I went to the port to charter a boat | 249 |
But NOBODY, | 250 |
NOBODY dared take me afloat | 251 |
“Upon Java Sea to Borneo land?” | 252 |
A sailor spoke up, “Friend, | 253 |
Please understand, | 254 |
We just don’t go there | 255 |
No matter the reason | 256 |
Be the sky and sea blue or the stormiest season | 257 |
Those who’ve attempted | 258 |
Have never come back, | 259 |
Except for that fella’ – Ol’ Captain Mack” | 260 |
He pointed across to a man with no legs | 261 |
“Look at the ghost – Now he sits and he begs! | 262 |
He used to be mighty, | 263 |
A commander was he | 264 |
Of two hundred men | 265 |
And a fleet of ships! Three! | 266 |
But once in the waters of Borneo land | 267 |
A thousand brown natives emerged from the sand | 268 |
And swam and canoed and they boarded the ships | 269 |
And cut all their throats | 270 |
All but one – | 271 |
All but his | 272 |
They threw all the bodies one by one | 273 |
To the deep | 274 |
And the blood woke the sharks | 275 |
From their nautical sleep | 276 |
And they came and they ate | 277 |
With their teeth sharp as knives, | 278 |
Then made Cap’n Mack jump! | 279 |
Made him swim for his life! | 280 |
Two days he floated alone in the sea | 281 |
Some fishermen found him, and thought, | 282 |
‘Dead was he’ | 283 |
No one can say how the Captain survived | 284 |
With legs ate by sharks, | 285 |
He should have just died” | 286 |
I went to the Captain | 287 |
And told him my scheme | 288 |
Expecting he’d tell me to give up the dream | 289 |
But instead his eyes fired | 290 |
And his voice was elated | 291 |
He told me “It’s been seventeen years | 292 |
That I’ve waited | 293 |
To go back to Borneo and find the black bean | 294 |
That lost me, me legs! | 295 |
Along with my team! | 296 |
And now one has found me | 297 |
A soul such as I | 298 |
Who’d risk life and limb | 299 |
For a taste of the sky | 300 |
I have here a map | 301 |
Of the place that we seek, | 302 |
A place that the natives call | 303 |
Devil’s Hand Peak | 304 |
It is lost in the bush only twelve miles in, | 305 |
And the natives around it, They think it’s a sin | 306 |
To set foot on it’s soil | 307 |
And harvest the beans | 308 |
So they’ve built giant fences around it, you see | 309 |
Impenetrable, | 310 |
Although it may be, | 311 |
I’ve laid out a plan for a man | 312 |
Such as Ye! | 313 |
We’ll take to the air on a catapult sling | 314 |
And slowly glide down on a giant cloth wing | 315 |
Then we can pack all the beans that we need!” | 316 |
“Yes, Cap’n Mack, but tell me – | 317 |
How will we leave?” | 318 |
He said not to worry | 319 |
So we took to the sea | 320 |
With Mack’s First Mate, Charlie | 321 |
Our strength was now Three | 322 |
Stealthy, at night | 323 |
We arrived on the shore | 324 |
With fog and no light | 325 |
‘Twas like creeping a moor | 326 |
Nobody saw as we crept our way in | 327 |
Through the bogs and the muck | 328 |
Before mornings begin’ | 329 |
And we came to a wall that was twenty feet high! | 330 |
And beyond it, | 331 |
The mountain that reached to the sky | 332 |
The moss was like carpet | 333 |
Heavy vines tumbled down | 334 |
The light began sparkling on the dew all around | 335 |
We then chose to climb | 336 |
And abandon the sling | 337 |
As we raced up the wall hearing little birds sing, | 338 |
There were drumbeats and footfalls | 339 |
Alight on the wind | 340 |
And as soon as we crossed | 341 |
We knew we were pinned | 342 |
I stared back but once and it jangled my fears | 343 |
There were ten thousand men there, | 344 |
With ten thousand spears! | 345 |
We had just gone a distance | 346 |
That their aim would not reach | 347 |
For the mountain’s forbidden | 348 |
And the wall, They won’t breach | 349 |
So we clambered and scrambled | 350 |
And climbed up the side | 351 |
Charlie took Mack on his back for the ride | 352 |
And we soon found a basin | 353 |
At eight thousand feet | 354 |
Where the beans we found | 355 |
Grew among fern and moss peat | 356 |
With heather so beautiful | 357 |
And roses so sweet | 358 |
Dewdrops, So mystical, | 359 |
I fell to my feet | 360 |
The First Mate was speechless | 361 |
And Mack took a seat | 362 |
“Know this, My Mates,” | 363 |
Old Mack said with a smile | 364 |
“We’ve been the only folks here in a while | 365 |
You can tell all your friends, | 366 |
And the humble and meek | 367 |
That you were the ones’ | 368 |
Conquered Devil’s Hand Peak! | 369 |
And we gathered the beans | 370 |
And our fingertips stained | 371 |
With the essence of dewdrops | 372 |
Our backs and necks craned | 373 |
We then filled our sacks with all the beans we could find | 374 |
Captain Mack roasted | 375 |
And Charlie would grind | 376 |
And we soon brewed a pot | 377 |
From a glacier fed stream | 378 |
By the time it had whistled | 379 |
We felt so serene | 380 |
And so calm and so peaceful for sharing the dream | 381 |
Captain Mack had the sugar | 382 |
And I had the cream | 383 |
We then raised our mugs for a victory toast | 384 |
From the cliff we could see out and over the coast | 385 |
And I only had one | 386 |
Single glorious sip | 387 |
When the earth shook like mad | 388 |
An explosion had ripped | 389 |
The roof of the mountain | 390 |
And ten miles high | 391 |
The boulders and vapor and ash filled the sky | 392 |
So we dropped all our beans | 393 |
And I ran for the cliff | 394 |
And Charlie sprang forward | 395 |
Captain Mack in his grip | 396 |
Charlie thought quick | 397 |
And unfolded the kite | 398 |
And Three jumped together | 399 |
Holding on for dear life | 400 |
Sailing down to the Ocean | 401 |
With our faces of soot | 402 |
I looked back but once | 403 |
When I saw that our loot | 404 |
Was encumbered by lava | 405 |
And the rocks tumbled down | 406 |
And buried the grove with a crash and the sound | 407 |
Of Catastrophe wailed | 408 |
And further and further and further we sailed | 409 |
On the blast of wind dealt us by Devil’s Hand Peak | 410 |
We were over the Ocean | 411 |
And yet up a creek | 412 |
The hang glider soared from the squealing volcano | 413 |
Glancing at Mack | 414 |
I saw the look of the pain of | 415 |
A life of ambitions and dreams never granted | 416 |
Before we had ditched, | 417 |
The Captain recanted, | 418 |
“Beware your obsessions,” | 419 |
He told us “My friends, | 420 |
We’ve chased our desires, | 421 |
Now see how it ends! | 422 |
The bean was much sweeter in our thoughts | 423 |
‘fore we knew – | 424 |
This day that we taste it, | 425 |
The dreaded curse TRUE! | 426 |
I should have heeded the warning that… | 427 |
That… | 428 |
LOST ME, ME LEGS!!! | 429 |
Should have burned the damned map! | 430 |
NOT AGAIN shall I beg!” | 431 |
And then he let go | 432 |
And he fell to the earth | 433 |
In a blink of the eye | 434 |
He was gone from the berth | 435 |
I looked at Charlie | 436 |
And he peered at me | 437 |
We saw in each other | 438 |
That loss set us free | 439 |
We floated along on a burst of warm air | 440 |
That carried us off | 441 |
From the mountain of flare | 442 |
And finally touched down to the salt of the sea | 443 |
The impact killed Charlie | 444 |
And left only me | 445 |
I clung to the mast | 446 |
Of the big giant kite | 447 |
And drifted all day | 448 |
And all through the night | 449 |
Fortune beheld me and so I was saved | 450 |
Some fishermen caught me | 451 |
And spared me the grave | 452 |
From the stern I could see crimson smoke to the West | 453 |
That billowed from | 454 |
Devil’s Hand Peak, And the best | 455 |
Of the beans were now gone | 456 |
They were all dead and gone | 457 |
They were all gone but one that I held in my palm | 458 |
“How could it be that I carried it here?” | 459 |
The tiny black fruit | 460 |
Of the drink I hold dear | 461 |
And what can I do now with one, | 462 |
Only one? | 463 |
I held it and marveled in light of the sun | 464 |
I pondered the sip that I had | 465 |
‘fore the blast | 466 |
There could be none better | 467 |
So I made it my last | 468 |
I carry the Devil’s Hand bean as a charm | 469 |
In the fold of my pocket, | 470 |
It keeps me from harm | 471 |
So, when you sit idly and look at your cup | 472 |
Think now, how much, | 473 |
It took to fill up | 474 |
Somebody climbed a mountain for you | 475 |
And brought the beans home | 476 |
And roasted them, too! | 477 |
And when you’re at market | 478 |
In time of reflection | 479 |
I beg you to bypass the pre-ground selection, | 480 |
And buy the whole beans, | 481 |
And take them home, Do | 482 |
For nothing is better | 483 |
Than fresh home made brew | 484 |
When telling this tale | 485 |
I hope you may learn | 486 |
Live for your life | 487 |
Before it’s your turn | 488 |
And if you must know | 489 |
What’s happened to me | 490 |
I’m now safe at home | 491 |
And sipping my tea. | 492 |
(comment on this poem) |