Bless this Bagel
by Shirley Geok-lin Lim
published in Walking Backwards (West End Press)
Bless this bagel this Sunday morning,
Stark cold, week-old, toasted crisp.
Bless this toaster humming, electricity
Zipping from pole to pole, wires that power
The flour. Bless the marmalade,
Gold with zest and peel, bitter-sweet
Like this land of oranges and sweat labor.
Bless this thick plain peanut butter
I spread, scraping excess, waging
The difference between greed and pleasure.
Bless the morning, its history
Of pleasures, its lesson of meaning
Of other meanings disappearing
In the frugal love this morning knows.
