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.

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