Artichoke - Pablo Neruda

The artichoke

of delicate heart

erect

in its battle-dress, builds

its minimal cupola;

keeps

stark

in its scallop of

scales.

Around it,

demoniac vegetables

bristle their thickness,

devise

tendrils and belfries,

the bulb's agistations;

while under the subsoil

the carrot

sleeps sound in its

rusty mustaches.

Runner and filmaments

bleach in the vineyards,

whereon rise the vines.

The sedulous cabbage

arranges its petticoats;

oregano

sweetens a world;

and the artichoke

dulcetly there in a gardenplot,

armed fora skirmish,

goes proud

in its pomegranate

burnishes.

Poem:  Pablo Neruda "Artichoke" (partial)

from Sustenance & Deisre, an anthlogy

Image credit: J.Brophy