March 23, 2007

Les Legumes-Philosophes (The Vegetable Philosophers)

Time for Friday Satire:

In a small bistro on the old Left Bank,
known as “Le Vieux Haricot,”
vegetable thinkers sat and drank,
many long years ago.

That they think and feel is quickly proved:
For the cabbage has a head,
And hearts of lettuce are easily moved,
And the blood of beets is red.

The vegetable thinkers still think and talk,
as they did so long ago.
They sit and muse, or pensively walk
by the bar of Le Vieux Haricot.

Still the celery stalks sequentially,
while the carrot tops his drink;
and the legumes muse existentially,
“We are, ergo we think.”

Tobias Haller


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I confess. I gave in to the temptations of limerick... that being the absolute lowest form of poetry! But, in the spirit of "Friday Night LIVE"...

That talented young monk named Tobias,
who's a far better poet than I is,
puts Descartes before remorse
with his legumes discourse
claiming haricot vert are so wi-uz.

Cogito, shmogito! It makes me see pink!
On second thought, maybe its rainbows, I think.
Whatever the color...
Green, Purple or Haller,
That celery belongs in a drink.

But those veggies of old, at Le Vieux Haricot,
Who knew a thing or two bold about just saying "No!"
Drank Benedictine on ice,
(Even Gregory thought it nice),
And told le Roi and his minions where to go.

-frank said...

Cute.

June Butler said...

Tobias, if you had called your bistro "Les Vieux Haricots Rouges", I could more readily relate. But that would not scan, would it?

“We are, ergo we think"

Lots of those loose out there, including (maybe) me.

Ann Finch said...

Fascinating. I googled "cogito shmogito" and yours was the only entry that came up. My interest was because of a recent t-shirt I made that reads on the front, "Deus dixit ergo sum" (which hopefully translates to "God spoke, therefore I am," but I had to rely on amateurs for the Latin). It occurred to me after the fact that having "cogito, shmogito" on the back would be most appropriate, too.
Coincidentally, I'm Episcopalian, attending a "St. James," and had been raised in a "St. James!"
Peace, and happy Easter!

Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG said...

Of course, it's all natural when one is a human bean. ;-)