Jerusalem Artichoke

It’s not , though: Anyone can tell you this is
absolutely not an artichoke.
And the Jerusalem that it professes?
Some Italian costermonger spoke
about the sunflower”the English heard
not girasole but Jerusalem ”
and, naming these vile tubers, they conferred
an accidental dignity on them.

People say a flower shows us
certain proof that there’s a God;
is Helianthus tuberosus ’
ugly tuber”sunk in sod”
proof of the devil? If the flower
needs the root, the devil’s sent
expressly by a higher power:
Neither thing’s an accident.