<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=476073" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Ode to Maize</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">America, from a grain<br>of maize you grew<br>to crown<br>with spacious lands<br>the ocean foam.<br>A grain of maize was your geography.<br>From the grain<br>a green lance rose,<br>was covered with gold,<br>to grace the heights<br>of Peru with its yellow tassels.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But, poet, let<br>history rest in its shroud;<br>praise with your lyre<br>the grain in its granaries:<br>sing to the simple maize in the kitchen.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">First, a fine beard<br>fluttered in the field<br>above the tender teeth<br>of the young ear.<br>Then the husks parted<br>and fruitfulness burst its veils<br>of pale papyrus<br>that grains of laughter<br>might fall upon the earth.<br>To the stone,<br>in your journey,<br>you returned.<br>Not to the terrible stone,<br>the bloody<br>triangle of Mexican death,<br>but to the grinding stone,<br>sacred<br>stone of your kitchens.<br>There, milk and matter,<br>strength-giving, nutritious<br>cornmeal pulp,<br>you were worked and patted<br>by the wondrous hands<br>of dark-skinned women.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Wherever you fall, maize,<br>whether into the<br>splendid pot of partridge, or among<br>country beans, you light up<br>the meal and lend it<br>your virginal flavor.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh, to bite into<br>the steaming ear beside the sea<br>of distant song and deepest waltz.<br>To boil you<br>as your aroma<br>spreads through<br>blue sierras.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But is there<br>no end<br>to your treasure?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In chalky, barren lands<br>bordered<br>by the sea, along<br>the rocky Chilean coast,<br>at times<br>only your radiance<br>reaches the empty<br>table of the miner.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Your light, your cornmeal, your hope<br>pervades America's solitudes,<br>and to hunger<br>your lances<br>are enemy legions.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Within your husks,<br>like gentle kernels,<br>our sober provincial<br>children's hearts were nurtured,<br>until life began<br>to shuck us from the ear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Pablo+Neruda">Pablo Neruda</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=476073" data-title="Ode to Maize de Pablo Neruda" data-description="America, from a grain of maize you grew to crown with spacious lands the ocean foam. A grain of maize was your geography. From the grain a green lance rose, was covered with gold, to grace the heights of Peru with its yellow tassels. But, poet, l..."></div> </div> </div>

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