With water, air, we’re little concerned,
Shelter, modest energy invested,
Propagation, bio-reward earned,
That food processing has vested.

So what exactly is food processing?
Categorical imperative to each sent,
That keeps body and spirit pressing,
For paired existence next moment.

Minerals are elegant base,
For animal and plant sustenance,
That forms bio-mass web of lace,
And joins in the mortal dance:

Orderly universal vying,
Of each to consume for digestion.
Food processing causes dying,
Before, in, or after ingestion.

Perhaps these examples will show,
With greater clarity of view,
Why it’s necessarily so
Certain this axiom is true .

Plants, from the soil do nourish,
Extract energy from light,
Make food processing flourish,
As herbivores kill each bite.

Some animals eat small ones,
Often gulp them down whole,
Whales ingest lives by the tons,
That perish without parole.

From food, life extirpation,
Is the carnivores’ life tour.
Some food beyond expiration,
For vultures, dessert de jour.

Man insures his food is dead,
Most often does so with care,
Except for yogurt, it’s said,
And goldfish in college dare.

Bio-mass consumes bio-mass,
One unit eats another,
Death’s partner is the food process —
Of all life, is the mother.

© 2004 R. Leland Waldrip