When next you go to a swank cafe

And balk at the price you have to pay

Consider before you create a scene

The cost of the humble coffee bean

Far removed from your comfort zone

Your neat little garden and pristine home

Lie the charred remains of lush green lands

Made ugly and barren by unclean hands

Puppet kings proud of their military might

Play with guns and squeal with delight

As those they rule are tightly squeezed

Into shanty towns rife with disease

Much tastier when imported from Brazil

Coffee bean addicts can have their fill

Who really cares if they fiddle the price

So long as the coffee smells real nice

The African bean is pretty good too

With a delicate texture and darker hue

The exotic flavour is hard to resist

A transcendental state of bliss

What’s the third world to you or I?

Surely starvation is just a lie

Those horrid pictures we have seen

Spoil the taste of the coffee bean.

© Written by Renee Dallow

Published ‘Cafe Society Magazine’ Sydney 2001

From Book ‘The Humble Coffee Bean’ By Renee Dallow.