Time Trades and North African Chickpea Stew

The woman on the TV show Bear
Says that getting up early in the morning
And peeling mushrooms
Is time well-spent
It's grounding
It shows people
That someone put extra work
Into their meal

Peeling squash
Chopping onions
In the wee hours this morning
In preparation for company
Is time well spent, too

North African Chickpea Stew
Takes hours to make
Every time I make it
It's a special occasion

I think of my mom and grandma
Spending hours in the kitchen
Late nights and early mornings
Making knishi, varenike, tort

Birthdays only come once in a while
Your kid doesn't visit that often
Your grandkid will only be small for a time
So what do you do?
You cook

Meaning is proportional
To effort
And to sacrifice

"Time is gonna take so much away,
But there's a way that you can offer time a trade..."