What on this wide earth,
That is made, or does by nature grow,
Is more homely, yet more beautiful,
Than the useful Potato?

What would this world full of people do,
Rich and poor, high and low,
Were it not for this little-thought-of
But very necessary Potato?

True ’tis homely to look on,
Nothing pretty in even its blow,
But it will bear acquaintance,
This useful Potato.

For when it is cooked and opened,
It’s so white and mellow,
You forget it ever was homely,
This useful Potato.

On the whole it is a very plain plant,
Makes no conspicuous show.
But the internal appearance is lovely,
Of the unostentatious Potato.

The useful and the beautiful
Are not far apart we know.
And thus the beautiful are glad to have,
The homely looking Potato.

On the land, or on the sea,
Wherever we may go,
We are always glad to welcome
The homely Potato.

A practical and moral lesson
This may plainly show,
That though homely, our heart can be
Like that of the homely Potato.

From Forget-Me-Not: Poems (Weed, Parsons & Company, 1872).
This poem is in the public domain.