From the jitter-bug jungles of torrid Tarzania
I’ll gather, one by one,
cacao beans
from the tallest stands of grandest trees,
swinging by vines if I must
to secure
the purest
wildest
most exquisite
beans for chocolate …
just for you, my sweet
Then I’ll fly by private plane to the far-flung fringes of Hawaii
where sugar-cane
waves
scarlet feathered flowers
set a-flame
at sunset
to lick the sky
into pink and glowing submission
till it begs for laughing mercy
and cedes the finest
powdered, snowy sugar …
just for you, my sweet
Then off to visit the Queen
in England’s Windsor Castle –
her dairy herd is legendary,
and at her behest
I’ll request her special best clotted cream
from her most contented cows
as they crunch on the greenest
of gentle English grasses
in the castle grounds
during the Changing of the Guard …
just for you, my sweet
and while I’m there, perhaps I’ll ask
for a hundred
of her classic red-black-red dew-dropped roses -
enough posies to make
the world giddy
with the most flagrant deep vermilion
one-in-a-million fragrances
you’ve ever breathed …
just for you, my sweet
So now, with cacao and cream and speckled sugar all assembled
I’ll find my warm brown freckled eggs with yolks of marigold suns
and mix and weave all four together
baking
creaming
browning
dreaming
till I’ve discovered
the alchemy of perfect chocolate-covered love …
just for you, my sweet
as
you
lie
in
delicious
wanton wait
swathed
in
red swirls
of Valentine velvet …
just
for
me
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