A chocolate sprite caressed my tongue
And told me, in a voice high-strung,
Yet whispered, like a lover,
To please indulge and have another.
Would I ignore the chocolate’s beckon?
Look at my father, having seconds!
The chocolate was so good and sweet.
And God made it for us to eat.
Said I, forgive me if I’m rude,
But I will not be slave to food.
Some seek the heart at stomach’s door
And they seek true, but should implore
Some caution, for its acid, chyme
Will surely wear, the door, with time
And leave behind a roiling sea,
That storms, and gurgles, please, feed me!
But I will not. Besides clear skin,
I would not mar the spirit within!
But I will not. Besides bright grins,
The ascetic will, one day, win.
Sprite, watch my father eating thirds,
But hear these sugared, savant words.
Sprite, see him, plump and pink and plucked and proud,
And help me fix his chocolate shroud.
Let us wonder that he cannot spy the fuming sea,
In all its smoking fat and brine.
Nor see, the cliff that crumbles
Will fade, surely, with time.
Let us wonder why Tantalus, beneath the fruit,
Forever stood and went insane,
But Father laughs upon the sea,
Denying hunger, denying pain.
Zahra Duxbury is a Grade 12 student at Glebe Collegiate Institute. She enjoys going for meandering walks by Carleton’s Rideau River and plans to attend its Health Science program in the fall.
