For generous friends with hearts and smiles as bright as blossoms;

For feisty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers keep reminding us that we've had them;

For handsome friends who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn, and others, as plain as potatoes and so good for you;

For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts and as amusing as artichokes, and serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, and endless as zucchini, and who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you throughout the winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our blights, wilts and witherings;

And for friends now gone, like gardens past that have been harvested, but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter; for all these I am grateful...