Full many a sinful notion
Conceived of foreign powers
Has come across the ocean
To harm this land of ours;
And heresies called fashions
Have modesty effaced,
And baleful, morbid passions
Corrupt our native taste.
O tempora! O mores!
What profanations these
That seek to dim the glories
Of apple-pie and cheese!
I’m glad my education
Enables me to stand
Against the vile temptation
Held out on every hand;
Eschewing all the tittles
With vanity replete,
I’m loyal to the victuals
Our grandsires used to eat!
I’m glad I’ve got three willing boys
To hang around and tease
Their mother for the filling joys
Of apple-pie and cheese!
Your flavored creams and ices
And your dainty angel-food
Are mighty fine devices
To regale the dainty dude;
Your terrapin and oysters,
With wine to wash ’em down,
Are just the thing for roisters
When painting of the town;
No flippant, sugared notion
Shall my appetite appease,
Or bate my soul’s devotion
To apple-pie and cheese!
The pie my Julia makes me
(God bless her Yankee ways!)
On memory’s pinions takes me
To dear Green Mountain days;
And seems like I see Mother
Lean on the window-sill,
A-handin’ me and brother
What she knows ‘ll keep us still;
And these feelings are so grateful,
Says I, “Julia, if you please,
I’ll take another plateful
Of that apple-pie and cheese!”
And cheese! No alien it, sir,
That’s brought across the sea,–
No Dutch antique, nor Switzer,
Nor glutinous de Brie;
There’s nothing I abhor so
As mawmets of this ilk–
Give me the harmless morceau
That’s made of true-blue milk!
No matter what conditions
Dyspeptic come to feaze,
The best of all physicians
Is apple-pie and cheese!
Though ribalds may decry ’em,
For these twin boons we stand,
Partaking thrice per diem
Of their fulness out of hand;
No enervating fashion
Shall cheat us of our right
To gratify our passion
With a mouthful at a bite!
We’ll cut it square or bias,
Or any way we please,
And faith shall justify us
When we carve our pie and cheese!
De gustibus, ‘t is stated,
Non disputandum est.
Which meaneth, when translated,
That all is for the best.
So let the foolish choose ’em
The vapid sweets of sin,
I will not disabuse ’em
Of the heresy they’re in;
But I, when I undress me
Each night, upon my knees
Will ask the Lord to bless me
With apple-pie and cheese!
What do you eat on top of your apple pie?
If you have an apple-y post to share —a picture, a story, a book, a recipe, anything about apples— leave a link, and we’ll celebrate apples together in the month of September.
Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Sara Lewis Holmes at Read Write Believe.
On top of my apple pie? Vanilla ice cream or home-made whipped cream! I have eaten it with cheese, though, and loved it!
My mom (a Yankee from Wisconsin) always used to say: Apple pie without the cheese is like a hug without the squeeze. She also said apple pie could count as breakfast food.
Sure, apple pie for breakfast! And the cheese adds protein.
My favorite is the dutch crumbing topping 🙂
That’s a good one. Apple season is a favorite of ours. Well, okay, mine. Jr. claims that apples make him itchy.
I like my apple pie straight but hot. And I loved this post. Apples and autumn just go hand in hand. It was fun clocking on the links and finding recipes, seeing great pictures, etc.
I would appreciate it if you could remove the “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” link since it is clearly a case of “one of these things is not like the other.” 🙂 Thanks.
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