My mother loved to create, concoct, cook and bake
Each and everyday, not just on a special date!
She loved peeling and paring ripe, red delicious apples
And mixing up a messy cornmeal mush for breakfast scrapple.
She loved beating eggs energetically and whipping velvety cream
And cutting up cheap chickens that did not shout or scream!
She loved mashing boiled potatoes and oiling a cake pan.
She loved smashing strawberries to make sweet tasting jam.
She loved picking out blue crabs and sifting through flour
And pitting peaches and cherries that took way more than an hour!
She loved to cut up cucumbers to make a crosscut pickle slice.
And she always prepared some pudding from our leftover dinner rice.
She baked bread lovingly, serving it from the oven warmly.
She always cooked pork very well so it wouldn't be wormy!
She loved stuffing corned hams and humongous turkeys
And her roast beef was never dry like a piece of beef jerky!
My mother loved to season with all kinds of spices and herbs.
To praise her cooking, there are not enough scrumptous words!
She added some ingredients that you can't buy off the shelf
Like love and care and time and most of all- her devoted self!