Who was the first person

to discover maple syrup?

He or she exclaimed

"This crap tastes good!"

The invention of sweetness

shows the brilliance of life,

ie, life knows what it's doing,

ie, no one should hate the days,

months, years, decades, centuries.

After all, if the world could come up with

something so delicious

I say let's love it for millennia.

Sticking to the topic of syrup:

Spread out in golden splendor

across the lickable back of a pancake

the gooey stuff glows,

warm as a mild autumn sun

with rays that stay.

It flavors the tongue

without ever crossing over to

the state of too saccharine or too tangy.

It's better than a new pair of jeans,

better than a trip to Old Navy,

better than pants worn comfortably

below, way below, the hips.

Say it. Sy-rup.

Sounds like a name

the ancient Romans whipped up

for one of their charismatic gods.

Sy-rup. Its etymology?

A necessary pre-run.

A platonic ideal.

An earthly draft of Paradise.