Tomato Bliss

Home-grown bliss presents itself as a surprise,
ripened just this day by God's good sun,
sustained by rain and earth, apparently not
choice cuisine for all the squirrels around,
there's not much better than tomatoes plucked
from one's own plant, still warm with juice
that bursts at once into your mouth. A fruit,
in fact, within the nightshade family, the leaves
are toxic, but the Aztecs' gift to us lives on
in my backyard, a single plant, with just enough
for me, and those with whom I share because
when one finds bliss, it should be passed along.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2014