They Have a NATIONAL Coffee Day?

Light hearted, but true humor!

Proclaim a Toast Before the Barrista's Hearth!

The following poem was translated from Swedish in honor of a nation-wide celebration of coffee.  Talk about priorities set RIGHT!  Here in America, we tend to celebrate by indulging overwhelming, pyromaniac tendencies

(you know, light and make stuff explode or shoot up into the air in sparkling, albeit colorful plumes of smoke...)

ESPRESSO
Tomas Tranströmer

Black coffee at sidewalk cafesWith chairs and tables like gaudy insects.
It is a precious sip we intercept
Filled with the same strength as Yes and No.

It is fetched out of gloomy kitchens
And looks into the sun without blinking.

In daylight a dot of wholesome black
Quickly drained by the wan patron…

Like those black drops of profundity
Sometimes absorbed by the soul

That give us a healthy push: Go!
The courage to open our eyes.


Translated from the Swedish by May Swenson and Leif Sjöber

Enjoy today's brew in good health and good spirits!  May the celebration of coffee today reach around the globe to you too, wherever you may be!  Cheers!

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Original sources:
http://poetrysociety.tumblr.com/post/98739544929/for-national-coffee-day

Image credit: "Open-Coffee, Greece"
http://www.newsfilter.gr/2010/12/13/opencoffee-thessalonikis-krisi-i-kristmas/
Creative Commons 3.0 - Greece