Fill the pot,

Slowly boiling on the fire

With all that keeps your mind alight

In the pre-dawn dark,

With old and unrequited love

–

Add your dash of misdeeds

No matter how sinful,

Those tales you seldom breathe into life

Among family  

–

Fill the bubbling brine

With the flavors that haunt you

That followed you through youth

From a fatherland’s shore

–

Add your own hearty sorrows

To the day’s greater feast,

To stave off the hunger in us all

For a while