There's poetry in browned bread

The Food section can get in on a little National Poetry Month action, thanks to this inspired verse written by Andrew Walters, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Longfellow Middle School in Falls Church. Andrew's English teacher, Tom Grady, was thoughtful enough to send it in.

Andrew had an assignment to do a sonnet about a month ago. He was procrastinating pretty late at night, he says, when he got to thinking about what he would have for breakfast. Toast is his go-to food, with butter. It's about the extent of his culinary repertoire -- for now.

The sonnet took 30 minutes to compose. "I think it turned out pretty good," he says. We do, too.

(Eamonn Donnelly)

TOAST

Of all the snacks that beckon in the day
When stomach’s growl and gnawing hunger call,
Only you make my hunger go away
And summon me to stumble through my hall

Oh piece of bread, so humble in your slice
What magic turns your skin from white to brown
What wonderful aromas do entice
When toaster beeps and butter coats you down

With cinnamon and sugar or with jam
I dress you in ornaments of sweet
You fill me up more than anything can
When crispy, brown, and warm my lips you meet

Of every yummy treat you are the most
I honor you, noble food, who is toast.

-- Andrew Walters