Johnny's Seed
by Rachel Hoyt
didn't spread seeds randomly,
he planted crops, showed no greed,
traveled as a missionary...
Or so they say, but did you know
those apples mostly made hard cider -
liquor made them worthy to grow.
Prohibition was the divider...
As liquor became scarce and taboo
to many an alcoholic's dismay
Doctors began saying that you
should eat one apple per day.
A Swedenborgian vegetarian
who owned land but settled nowhere.
A never-been-married humanitarian
who showed animals and insects much care.
You would that think such a man
would have coined the phrase
but sometimes, try hard as we can,
dichotomies are thrown in the maze.
Do you think that Johnny drank
his apple a day all his years?
Or when told that drinking was rank,
did he quit and preach more) to his peers?
© 2012 Rachel Hoyt. All rights reserved.
March 11th is Johnny Appleseed Day.
Will you celebrate the hard cider way
or by chewing apples to prevent tooth decay?
