Peanut Not A Nut

                   (“The Dept. of Agriculture has decided that the peanut is not a nut.” News item.)

O, luscious little peanut brown!

     Far from the sunny south,

The most delicious morsel man

     E’er placed within his mouth;

Companion of the circus days,

     We feel most deeply cut;

For men of science now declare

     That you are not a nut.

For years we’ve cracked your brittle shell

     And crunched your luscious meat

Believing in our souls you were

     The proper thing to eat;

For indigestion and all ills

     You were commended, but

How can you beneficial be

     Since you are not a nut?

O, peanut, roasted on the walk,

     And sold to countless men,

We grieve – you never can be quite

     The same to us again.

Life somehow seems a dreary thing,

     Our door to joy is shut;

We’re dazed, we cannot crack a smile

     Since you are not a nut.

Sometime I hope to wake at morn,

     Out from a troubled sleep,

And find the sun is shining bright

     And find no clouds to weep.

I hope to see on walls of white,

     In lasting letters cut,

“Awake! Awake! Believe them not,

     The peanut is a nut!”

Aug. 12, 1912