Best eccles cake in the world these,
And I’ve been disappointed by many.
It was the underdog of pastries
Amidst flamingo pink and swirl glistens-
A thousand choosings
It would be overlooked.
Fierce looking thing
Coarse-crystaled and currant-crammed
Squat angry scowling
Savage-slashed to let out steam.
Yes, a thousand choosings
It would be overlooked.
You’re a long way from home.
How long since you left?
Over 50 years, he’d said
Accent shrank it to days.
Not like my nephew in the navy
First thing they got rid of.
Suddenly seeming stoic
Amidst refined delicacies.
Solid gritty stone of a treat,
Holding its own
On the patisserie shelf.
Go on – try one.
It dropped into the paper bag
An identity anchor.
My first eccles cake.
I’d have to take his words for it –
Geordie lilts
At the patisserie shelf
Both so far from home.
Fierce stoic stone of a thing
The best eccles cake in the world.