Friday Flower

Lettuce Thief

by Gwyn Thomas

"A great giant stealing lettuce."

(From a small boy's scribbling book.)

One would think

That this would not be,

For a mighty giant, a worth-while occupation,

Yet there was he

On the page facing

The inspired note

A brush of a person

Fondling in his hands

(As far as one could see)

Some green scribbling

That no doubt denoted, after the impressionists

The lettuce he was stealing.

What psychological complexities

Led to his vegetarian propensities

So that he had no craving for meat

Like all full-blooded giants?

Was there in his pedigree some secret

That would explain his strange proclivity,

Some genetic meddling

That would explain to me why he

Was so particularly apathetic to meat?

Vain questions, useless guesses;

There's nothing here beyond the white page,
No interference at all with extensions
To what has been portrayed
And set painstakingly
And finally down:
"A great giant stealing lettuce."

Is there anything more beautiful than a head of lettuce? Absolutely not! Forget the roses or carnations, give me veggies any time. My vegetable patch is my pride & joy!