Emily Dickinson reviews Japanese candy

The gloom of night is swept away As by a scouring broom — Dawn’s golden-fingered beams reveal

A curious mushroom.

In land of rising sun seek I — With silent tread of foot Confectioneries wondrous wrought

Like man’s own tenderest root.

’Tis work of patient souls sublime From far across the sea — Angelic food celestial

Of immortality!

Which, careless step and handling mine — As flowers on a tomb Cast o’er the gentle earth divine

Japan’s sweet fungal bloom.

Katherine Luck is the author of the novels The Cure for Summer Boredom and In Retrospect. Her latest book, False Memoir, combines the high stakes of a gritty psychological thriller with the guilty pleasure of a sensational true crime tell-all. You can read more of her work, including the “Dead Writers and Candy” series, at https://the-delve.com.

Originally published at the-delve.com on May 23, 2018.