To A Strawberry Short Cake

                                                             (a sonnet)

O thou delicious heap of dough

     Crowned with nature’s gift so sweet!

With rich cream trickling o’er thy brow,

     Thou sorely temptest me to eat.

Long has thou been the children’s friend,

     And gray heads too have smiled on thee

With smiles as broad as thou art long,

     Though toothsome lump of pastry.

With this steel blade I pierce thy side

     And take from there a goodly bite;

I’ll stake my life ‘twill take thee all

     To satisfy my appetite.

But should it not I’ll stuff until

     I’ve swept thee from my sight.

June 22, ‘90

         (Crossed out in first volume of early poems.)