A Hymn To The Rewards Of A Fine Palate And Of Waiting At Table Poem by Richard Blanch

The Beneficent Master of Fruit and Wine Roams the Enchanted Geography of Orchards and Vineyards. An Ode to a Fine Palate and a Connoisseur's Knowledge


Here inside, electricity, out there, evening
Approaching starlight, together stir a restaurant’s restlessness.
Soup and pasta are past, dessert waits beside the table.
Alert, desirable, and yielding, firm and
Needing only release and peeling, fruits nestle
Appealing in their crisp comeliness
Lively where all else is still and lingering.

Irresistible charm, darkly knowing, capable, will
Unclasp the
Net that holds the clustered treasure,
Breaking the orchard free for the picking.
O such fine eating. In swift-melting ice
Underneath, a sweet wine flask hovers, beguiling.

Now as a canal keeper uses his skill and
Dexterity to open the waterways, this conjuror,
Follower of different mysteries exerts his will,
Opens, unhasps the constraint that holds back the
Rest of the twilight's delights, his delicate finger
Finding its gentle certain way to the quay
Finding the handle to raise the level
Finding the winder to open the gate
Ushering the boat of night as it noses its way
Up to the point of readiness. Soon it will be
Undulating, turning in the lock, releasing the Spring,
Collecting the rivers of gladness, letting them gush free till morning
Comes…………………………………..From countless
Countries scattered through the atlas of the world, such
Kind pleasures spread themselves at the stroke of his wand, at the
Kiss of this magic geographer. His trusty compass-needle
Kicks and swings in its ring, pointing with unerring aim
Intuiting fresh lands to please and applaud him, fondly bringing
New willing gifts from harvest and vineyard. How many mouths are
Gaping in his praise? In this paean, how many different tongues sing?