CRACKING WALNUTS
By: A.Teveluwe
Copyright: James R. Gauselman


When I was just a tyke, long before I grew
I loved the taste of walnuts, even before I liked stew.
Especially walnuts fresh from the shell.
Mom even put walnuts in my shiny lunch pail.

And I loved walnuts more every day
So many walnuts, in different ways.
Walnuts in salad, walnuts in bread
Walnuts in brownies --- I even ate them in bed.

Momma would break open the walnuts, for me
For, I was just a lad of only three.
I tried it myself using my tricycle and speed
Only to find myself dangling from the branch of a big oak tree.

When I was four
And the holidays brought more,
I tossed them against the ceiling
Knocking plaster on the floor.

By the time I was five
There was nothing I wouldn’t do.
I was desperate for them always
Even when we went to the zoo.



Before I was six, I knew I had a fix
A sure-proof way.
Until, with the swing of my dad’s hammer
My thumb got in the way.

Another year had gone ‘round
So I was now seven.
And would you believe it?
It still left me, without that delicious sound…of cracking walnuts all around.

About the time I turned eight
I knew it was getting late.
A ladder, some height, a trajectory and angle
But I wound up with a bruised spirit and red swollen ankle.

And at nine, I thought I must have been blind
It was now so obvious and clear.
My goal would require contraptions
Of much more elaborate gear.

Pulleys, pistons, and levers with weights
A spring, a little twine, some glue --- Now, if I can just keep it all straight!
Uh! Oh! I exclaimed, as my ingenious device whinnied
My ambition was full, but my tummy would remain empty.

A master at ten, I decided to give it one last try.
I thought I would have figured it out.
It really shouldn’t be all that difficult, should it?
“Hey you! Watch out!”

So many tries, so many failures,
I had nothing left to do but pout.
Yet, I knew that the solution would one day be mine
It was just, oh just, a simple matter of time.



Now I am grown
With a family and home,
And whiskers to scratch as I reflect
On those days when I fumbled, tripped and stumbled
For my prized delicious walnuts… but I have no regrets.

Today I have a collection of widgets and gadgets,
That do all the work for me.
They’re everywhere throughout my house,
As far as the eye can see.

Shelves of Nutcrackers from around the world, of many fashion and type:
There are Steam driven…Water pumped… Spring powered… Nutcrackers with Rubber bands wound tight.
Even those run by solar-electric light.
“Oh,” says my family, “Oh! What a sight!”

Now I sit back in ease, without worry,
As I muse over my once silly antics.
My home is quiet, without rumor,
Of what might be going on in my attic.

My attic?

“Son! What are you doing with that watermelon?”