Ode to Rice

By Prarthana Sheopuri

Oh Rice! How I pine for thee!

Unpretentious and self-effacing,

Humble and giving.

Your warm nature beckons me,

You comfort me like no other.

Each morsel,

Versatile and majestic no end,

One I truly savor.

Life with thee though calorific,

Is worth more than one without.

Dear Rice, the biased review of the conscious,

Nibble at your service.

Sans you,

The world would be unable to stave off,

Hunger and starvation.

Ensured survival yet how overlooked.

Fret not, they truly serve,

who feed and ask not.

Your true connoisseurs:

The famished, the ravenous, the mal-nourished.

What others view,

bland and lowly,

For me is grand and nourishing.

Billions have fed off your wholesomeness,

Endurance and yield.

If there were ever to be an ode written,

It should be for thee.

Transforming into pliable slush,

To Sustain the young, the infirm.

You have truly served Humanity.

Dear Rice, you are superior when colored,

Wholesome and nutritious.

Humans could learn a thing or two,

Blend and accept the outcome.

We are mortals afterall,

Begin as dust,

End in the hearse.

I have the highest regard for thee,

Your place is sure to stay in my heart,

For Eternity.

By Prarthana Sheopuri