Coffea arabica or The Human Bean

The plimsoll rings of brown on white
The progress of my mouthfuls mark.
O, bean of bitter, 'Opian delight,
Divulge the secret of your dark

Descendant.  Black ink in my
China mug, you elevate
The heart and clear the mind;
It must be biochemical fate

To arise where Man began her climb
To ultimate dominion of her state--
Or was it this which by sublime,
Narcotic effect upon an ape

Made this dull and puny being
To use its brain to grasp a stone
To pound on rock this wondrous bean?
I knew it!  Man could not alone

Have found the motive to inspire
A proto-human's Promethean act--
To learn to master the sacred fire
--Except to roast her coffee black.

Man could not have learnt to thrive
So many millennia, albeit fleeting,
And learnt to work from nine to five
Without her coffee at a meeting.

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  ¶ 9:48 am