To the Ancient Egyptians,

onions symbolized eternity

since the concentric rings

resembled the nested layers

of the Earth and the Heavens.

Don’t read too much into it though,

to the Ancient Egyptians, everything

symbolized everything else.

Cats symbolized royalty.

Peanuts symbolized democracy.

The rippling banks of the Nile

symbolized both death and the harvest.

A rat with a locust riding on its back

symbolized the 1972 Atlanta Braves.

Seven white carnations being urinated on

by an emu symbolized the sanctity of marriage.

Norman Bates symbolized Gary Cooper.

A hollow gourd inverted over a well

symbolized traditional American values,

which in turn symbolized me

drinking an icy light beer and listening to

ghosts singing through the floorboards.

To them, even all of eternity

only symbolized an onion,

since they thoughts the nested levels

of Earth and the Heavens resembled

the onion’s concentric layers.