Poem: "Bittersweet Love"

Here is today's freebie poem.  It's based on a backchannel prompt about the healing power of chocolate, from the_vulture who is offline today.

When the world was new,
the human beings wandered around
ignorant of love and healing.

So the Goddess went to the jungle
and planted a seed there
in the shade of the high canopy.
It grew into a humble tree
that produced fragrant flowers
and pods filled with small brown beans.

The tree whispered to a shaman,
who came to fetch the beans and turn them
into wonderful things to eat and to drink.
The flavor was like nothing else in the world,
rich and velvety and splendid.

The people ate of the beans quite eagerly.
Those who were sad
found their hearts uplifted.
Those who were lonely
found themselves drawn to each other.

The fame of the little tree
spread around the world,
and people did more and more things
with the wonderful beans it grew.

Some of the wisdom that went with it
was lost in the traveling,
but the tree and the beans
and everything made from them
still remembered

so that if anyone thought to ask,
Why are the raw beans so bitter
when finished chocolate is so sweet?
Why is chocolate so soothing?
And why does it only grow in the shade?
then the answers would come in a dream:

because the seed that the Goddess planted
was love, which is both bitter and sweet.
Love is the seed from which
all true healing and satisfaction grow.
Love can only flourish in good company;
it does not seek to put itself above others,
but works its magic quietly and out of sight.

When you taste chocolate,
you taste the love of the Goddess
in all its complexity and subtle power

and that is why people always want more of it.