<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">The Traveling Onion: A Poem<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.625em; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 3px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); padding: 0.3125em 0.625em; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 20.48px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.875em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.28; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">“It is believed that the onion originally came from India. In Egypt it was<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">an object of worship —why I haven't been able to find out. From Egypt<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">the onion entered Greece and on to Italy, thence into all of Europe.”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">—<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">Better Living Cookbook</em></div></blockquote><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.875em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.28; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">When I think how far the onion has traveled<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">just to enter my stew today, I could kneel and praise<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">all small forgotten miracles,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">crackly paper peeling on the drainboard,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">pearly layers in smooth agreement,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">the way the knife enters onion<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">and onion falls apart on the chopping block,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">a history revealed.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">And I would never scold the onion<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">for causing tears.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">It is right that tears fall<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">for something small and forgotten.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">How at meal, we sit to eat,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">commenting on texture of meat or herbal aroma<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">but never on the translucence of onion,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">now limp, now divided,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">or its traditionally honorable career:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">For the sake of others,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">disappear.</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.875em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.28; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.875em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.28; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Naomi Shihab Nye</div></body></html>