Born of the Paper

 
The Whispering Blossoms:  
Ready for  
Aesop's Approval(imagined)  
 
I took a path that was staggered,  
It was one of those paths  
that no one knows  
quite where it goes,  
or just how long it mattered.  
 
It smelled of jam  
down in the brambles.  
 
In an ancient hollow,  
in a clearing,  
there stood a mulberry tree.  
 
It had a spicy story  
to tell me.  
 
It riddled & rattled  
& as I listened  
to its barking echo,  
I ambled.  
 
  "In a hidden grove," it told, "ancient mulberry trees held a secret. For centuries, their blossoms were living letters. And I, this very tree, was born there, in the paper."  
 
I asked it for a recipe.  Its bark echoed as I was leaving.  I went home and made a batch of mulberry jalapeño jelly. It was delicious.  
 
Moral: Even ancient elements can yield a surprisingly modern flavor.