by David Wolfe, December 2003
“There’s more to life than chocolate, but not right now.”
— Anonymous
Over eons of astrology
Transformations of geology
Here still, right now
Is this black seed — cacao.
The seed of a fruit of a sacred tree
A gentle, jungle species under the vast canopy.
The Food of the Gods
Hidden there in hardened fruit pods.
Of all the jungle — rain forest
You have surpassed the best.
Twelve hundred elements of flavour
And every one to savour.
So silly, have you heard?
The answer is absurd!
Seed-food of a race long gone
Melted through cooking — withdrawn.
Now resurrected, back for more
Cacao has more surprises in store.
Inside the seeds of these fruits high above
Are the chemicals of bliss, focus — love.
Carrying forth nobility,
A lost Mayan beauty.
Cracked, eaten, dipped in honey
Chocolate is an edible money!
Boosts, potentiates, exposes
Mixed with cherimoyas, roses
Adds style, fashion
To the fruits of passion.
It is a food of prosperity — without hoarding
Yet useless to the boring.
Subtle, eclectic.
It transforms the mundane
To the psychedelic.
Entheogenic, yet mild,
Still growing wild,
Where tribes had been
With psilocybin.
Cacao can converse
And travel the universe.
Cacao is from some mystical realm
And it’s just enough to overwhelm
The daily routine, the chain of time
Slowing the rhythm, showing a rhyme.
The spirit of the thing:
Some ancient, Mayan king
Of legends and tales
Who, over oceans sailed,
A being empires hailed.
Male, delicate,
Lean, effeminate,
Dark nails, hands strong,
Limbs smooth and long.
From the waist up to the chest
In a vanilla, v-cut, vest
Embroidered, broad-wide
Opened up the sides.
Dark, brown, tan,
Eyes glowing — and:
Hair braided,
Muscles serrated,
Jewelry jaded,
Regal, fated
To alter the course of history
By some fantastic mystery.
Who had, through remarkable demur,
Been tricked by the allure
Of the Faustian game
Fire, heat, flame
And the devil’s signed name.
Tossed into milk, imprisoned, cursed
To create an insatiable thirst.
Dissolved, tricked, corroded
And then through boat-ships unloaded
As candy and confections.
Seduced, inducing infections.
And yet, now we discover,
Cacao cannot be made the miser,
And chocolate has become a little wiser.
Cacao, you see,
Is a student, sent
Learning while others came and went.
Chocolate studies all — with a twist:
The cacao god is an alchemist.
A new strategy emerges
Where past and future diverges
We never knew,
Until now,
Lost in time somehow,
The secret law:
Chocolate must be eaten raw.
Inscribed in ancient stone, clay, pottery.
It makes you the winner of the lottery;
The holder of the golden ticket,
And all you have to do is pick it,
Or it picks you
And you are created anew.
From the chocolate bean and vanilla inspiring
In comes a new era of literature, writing.
From somewhere deep inside this tree
Comes deeper, richer, poetry.
A seed that lowers appetite,
Makes you feel and look — just right
And always provides brilliant insight.
Depression healed, tempers calmed
Hearing the melody of hidden songs.
Exploding creativity,
Exciting nerve electricity,
Revealing synchronicity,
Giggling with eccentricity.
Radical,
Pharmacological,
Ecological,
Perfectly Illogical.
Chocolate is not to be cooked.
The obvious has been overlooked.
Consider …
A food that brings out your better half,
And causes little children to laugh.
That can save the planet
Before it’s too late,
Because chocolate is already legal
In every state.
A new tale to an epic song,
A truth set right after so many wrongs.
The Cacao God has spoken
The curse-spell has now been broken.
Raw chocolate has found its hour
To conquer the ivory tower.