​POETRY  -  
          With the Theme of Making or Breaking Bread 

" I will make you a cake, for it is your birthday today. "
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                                     Photo by Weebly.com                                    

I Will Make You a Cake
by Valentine Doyle

Author's Note:  I made this cake for my mother every year on her birthday, starting when I was nine.

​​I will make you a cake, for it is your birthday today.
I will measure bright sugar, measure its treasure twice
I will open six eggs, cradling the yolk in the shell as you cradled me in your arms, until the clear white runs away
I will whisk air into that rich yellow until it is ready to receive the blessing of sugar
I will give the gift of sugar to the rich soft yellow and the gift of richness to the sparkling white sugar
I will roll a lemon until its tiny prisons break and set the flavor free
I will grate the lemon’s skin till my fingers are rich in oil and my nose in its fragrance to bring the gift of zest to the cake
I will squeeze the lemon to release the sharp sparkle on the tongue
I will give the gift of bright flavor to the rich receiving blend
I will sift flour until it is light, ready to give the cake body
I will beat egg whites until they are lighter, ready to give the cake breath
I will cleave the cloud-lightness of the egg whites and let one half fall on the rich mix with the faintest of puffs—my favorite moment
I will add half the flour and half the egg and half the flour, lifting lightly to blend without crushing
I will turn them into a pan and entrust it all to the creating heat
And I will share them with you, for it is wonderful that you were born.

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​​Valentine Doyle likes to write songs, but this poem, “I Will Make You a Cake,” is a first. But she does like to cook, which helps in this case. She is retired from a company that funds sustainable agriculture and lives in Hartford, Connecticut with a very nice cat. She was connected with OLLI through a writing workshop, and really did make the cake in the poem for her mother’s birthday each year starting at age nine.

Editor's Note: Valentine Doyle is a first time contributor to Vistas & Byways for Issue 17.

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