From tables where the Northern Fires greet the
coming night—
To Raffles out in Singapore and the Palace in Bombay;
From Shepheard’s (which means Cairo) to that little
hostelry
Way down in Trinchinopoly where purring punkahs
sway.
We’ve traveled north, we’ve traveled south by all
routes known to man—
We’ve traveled east, we ’ve traveled west by some they
scarcely came:
From canvasback and terrapin to Russian caviar,
From venison to bird-nest soup and curried things
and game.
We’ve put them all beneath our belt with consummate
address:
We’ve risen from the laden board and smacked our
jowl in glee.
With organs sound and healthy we have murdered
each menu
And left the wreck of good things with a gourmet’s
ecstasy.
But do you wish to know the feasts that permeated
deep—
That stirred the very bottom of my stomach to the
core?
Quisine that brought such wondrous bliss, but satiated
not, That saturating satisfied, but still left room for more?
The place—a little half deserted town in northern
France:
The time—a time of carnage, of wanton strife and
hate:
And I and my battalion on reserve a week or two
Till they call us to the Front again to force the hands
of Fate.
Just from the Commissary, the Salvation or the Y,
I’ve got a bar of chocolate, some butter and some cake;
A canteen full of milk, and eggs, from the old
farmhouse near by,
And with this tout ensemble you can see I’m sitting
jake.
I’ve entered now a peasant’s house—an ancient,
kindly dame—
Who’s seen me several times before, and knows just
what I wish:
So the frying-pan is gotten out—the pewter fork and
knife— A big bowl and the skillet and a large, substantial
dish.
And I’m breaking up the bar of chocolate in a mighty
bowl
(The while the eggs are frying, “Sur le plat, oui, s’il
vous plait”),
And pouring from my canteen’s gurgling mouth a
draught of milk,
To expedite proceedings in a purely tactful way.
And now the spluttering eggs are done, the chocolate’s
hot and rich;
I have my feet beneath the board, the pewter weapons
near:
A hunger from a front-line trench—the stomach of a
goat—
And a battle-line that’s very far, though still the guns
ring clear.
And thus, too full for utterance, I gently draw the
veil—
So leave me, kindly reader, in my joy—
And maybe you will understand why other dinners
pale,
And in comparison with this, appear to clog and cloy.