Ben & Jerry's is sponsoring an online poll to raise an old ice cream flavor from the Flavor Graveyard. Please join with me in voting for Bovinity Divinity (you can vote once a day through the end of May). It's chocolate ice cream with white chocolate cows, swirled with white chocolate ice cream with chocolate cows. It's not the most decadent flavor Ben & Jerry's ever had, but it was my first contact with Ben & Jerry's, so it holds a special place in my heart.

In fact, last fall, when we took a trip up to Vermont to the Ben & Jerry's factory, my visit to Bovinity Divinity's grave (yes, they have an actual graveyard) inspired me to write the following poem. Perhaps it will convince you to help me in the cause.

Ode to Bovinity Divinity
I once thought ice cream was vanilla,
chocolate or strawberry.
A friend of mine said I should meet
two guys named Ben and Jerry.
She took me to the grocery store,
on down the freezer aisle,
One look at your descriptive label
had to make me smile.
There's chocolate cows in this ice cream,
white chocolate swirled with dark!
And in another—cookie dough!
It's an ingenious spark!
These Ben and Jerry characters
have realized a dream!
And born was my relationship
with you, gourmet ice cream.
I always loved your chocolate cows;
I almost heard them moo.
Whenever I went to the store,
I'd always look for you.
Some raved of other flavors,
and I thought they too were fine.
But I would pass up Chunky Monk
for Bovinity Divine.
Then when I went back to school,
I didn't change my taste,
But I'd feel poor when I saw you
inside the freezer case.
Through budgetary fund constraints
we slowly grew apart,
But B.D. dear, please know that you
were always in my heart.
In later years, I had the dough
but found that you were gone.
I found new flavors, tried them out,
and grudgingly moved on.
Although I never found you,
you’d have always found a taker.
I didn’t know that you had gone
to meet your ice cream maker.
This week I went to see
the ice cream plant that was your womb.
I went in back and up a hill
and there I found your tomb.
The Ben and Jerry’s Graveyard
is a place where one expects
To find a long-lost flavor
and to pay one’s last respects.
With Sugar Plum and BuzzBuzzBuzz
you share this sacred space.
I lingered quite a while beside
your final resting place.
“To discontinue you was wrong,”
I hung my head and swore.
But I realized your death was due
to my not buying more.
I walked away with heavy heart
and shame that would not cease.
I’ll always miss you, dear B.D.
Sweet ice cream, rest in peace.