French Onion Soup

Light a candle and sip French

wine so as not to draw tears

Slice onions, shallots and 

leeks thin, patient

so as not to cut fingers

Salt and pepper to balance the

sweet times of life,

Sugar for the heavy times

Dark broth

Crusty bread for your soul and

Cheese for the pleasure, let it

melt inside you

Serve warm in bowls with love.

—from Imagined Recipes from my Grandmother’s Cookbook

c. 2012, Martin A. Bartels,

part of my new collection, ‘Unlanguage’