Alchemy At Eight O'Clock

Guest Authors

By Erica Lehrer

Mascarpone: the very word rolls off the tongue

like triple crème, its fresh-milk taste all

that remains of green grasses, fragrant herbs

and wild flowers ingested by cows grazing

in distant pastures shortly before we met.

With any luck, I will have transformed

the mascarpone before this night is through

into a pick-me-up that will render you speechless,

for little did you know that herbs, flowers,

grass and sun could be combined just so

with marsala, sugar, eggs and cocoa,

not to mention espresso-soaked lady fingers

caressed by shaved chocolate swirls!

Forgive me if I smile, but I’ve seen this look

before: eyes glazed, expression dazed,

by the complex bitter-sweetness the likes

of which your mouth – your heart! – has never

known. Let this mocha-infused cream, rich

as a dream, dispense its magic as I seduce you

with my tiramisu.

Vieni, vieni amore mio.