There is a danger when I am home alone
and spy a carton of eggs
when opening the refrigerator door
even moreso if there is also
bread in the breadbox
and then if a saucepan is clean
I can hard-boil some of those eggs
while in another clean pan
I can heat butter, milk, flour,
salt and pepper – heavy pepper
into smooth, creamy white sauce
while the eggs boil
the bread settles into
the toaster
all returning me to
culinary Nirvana of my childhood
sliced, warm, hard-boiled eggs
on buttered toast
cozily smothered in
a blanket of cozy white sauce
a meal kings would kill for
all my psychological
and cholesterol needs sated

And for a few minutes
G-d is in heaven
all is right with the world…

unless my cardiologist
reads this.

– Mark L. Lucker
© 2022
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