Poems That Came From a Beanstalk

Before Beans

"Who were you, I mean, before you wore beans?"
"Oh, child, my sweet, whatever could you mean?"

"Well, you live in the garden -- but what was before?
"I've already said: prior, my origins, what more?"

"Yes, I know, you came from a roof, with shingles."
"Aye! The very memory, it barely mingles..."

"Say, but who put you there, on the roof?"
"Well, I can say it was God himself -- I'd bet my tooth!"

"So it was only you, God so cruel? To observe the sky?"
"Now that I think, it comes back some... and, oh my.

"Well go on, spit it out, what's floating in your head?
"I'm finding here, that sometimes I forget, but my thoughts are not dead"

"Must you be so rude, as to keep me patient?"
"I was not alone, but gifted, with someone God-sent"

"And hush up now, so I can see, my past shine clear as day
So that I may paint for you a picture, if I may

I was not alone, although sometimes I thought I was
But there were more of my kind, listening to the world buzz

There were five of us, as I recall, it's a little foggy
We were born into the earth, not even a little bit groggy

Thanks to her, for keeping her health, we got here
Breathing strong, and kicking the whole way, my dear

My mother was there, yes, that's her
She use to reside on that roof, where we were

Now we're apart, and so the world spins, but we never let go
Because my roots are so deep, kid, that they break through ice and snow

My mother sits far over there, and she misses us
But she's strong, more than they know, and she can grow through the dust

No, we are not weak. You'll find our roots breaking the road
Just so we can wind around each other, that mother-daughter code

It's only a fortune we both became plants, you know
Because I now recognize that we're so alike to grow

She teaches me so much just by speaking the way she thinks
Sipping the truth out of life the way everyone is too afraid to drink

I'm lucky, that right there, sits a woman who understands my stem
Sometimes, people don't get to know their children, even when they sit right in front of them

We recollect, little one, the times that made us a close team
And the distance seems far, when we do that, I mean

Those times make up the "before beans", so don't forget it
She took us down some bumpy roads, but let's simply admit:

We would've been worse for the spoiling, and no one likes a brat
They don't write stories about the prim cut, the cookie-shaped families in-tact

Praise to my mother, for being so brave, because you didn't hide when the world failed you
You didn't run away from us, with the ugly that came out of the truth

I think I must share with the whole universe, that, after she endured the world's hell
She took on the one that the five of us gave, just as well

I dare say even better, did she deal, because she never didn't want us
Who else but mother, would really defend us and make a fuss?

She makes me feel worth fighting for, and she teaches me to be strong
Even when the wind and the rain tell you you're not, she is evidence that: they're wrong

I recollect it now, my sweet, of where I came from
My mother was always there, a face I see not nearly enough of

But, yes, she is there, and will never be lost
Because she shaped me -- I truly would love her even if she did not bear the title-- and her honesty is the cost"

"Your painting has proved to be a pretty one."
"Perhaps only pretty to a few some."

"My gracious, well, how do you mean?"
"Only that the rest cannot piece together the stalk to the bean:

Torn apart as the family seems, we are not so mixed a batch
It was not God's accident, you see, that this mother and daughter were matched"