Friday, May 4, 2012

Temperance and Gluttony


Crisp, with a tang of salt and a bitter bite;
Smooth in the throat as it stimulates the tongue;
Sharp to the taste as it’s colorful to sight:
Such is the food of the hungry and the young.
But maturity, and the pocket’s ease, and a long
Educative course in the finer things of life,
Grant a thirst and a lust and a famishment too strong
To resist, as the rats were weak at the Hamlin fife.
Till the search for the perfect feed on the perfect food
Is a quest for a grail, and the knights of which instilled
With the burning, yearning, slakeless, delicate mood
Of the gormandizer, fatten, but can’t be filled.
Men taste like bacon, Asian robots tell;
No wonder devils fry my kind in hell.

 















The manna was sufficient for its day;
The hero for his hour.  There’s no gift
Worth getting out of time, nor any way
To keep in luxury by human thrift.
The pay enough for labor; and the grace
Enough this moment only soul to save;
The bread enough for life; the woman’s face
Pleasant enough to see each dawn till grave.
No less than dignity and human state
Requires, but lacking more: are they not rich
Who, sleeves unplucked by ghosts intemperate,
Say “Pass the sandwiches” and don’t care which?
Such great contentment’s got of little stuff,
The man is blessed who knows the word “Enough.”


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