The London Bruncheon

At the London bruncheon
We spoke of matters concerning
We few

But the last of us spoke
In the airiness of the moment,
Juxtaposed between greatness and dissipation

The facts being what they are:
Mildly runny, old and ruddy,
Young and bubbly, strong yet cuddly,
Ugly —

Eggs, Irishmen, debutantes, union men
And the habit of chewing tobacco
in public —

Let us consider
The mark of a leader
It’s the mark that was given
By the hand of decision

And let us dismiss, remembering this:

As long as a choice
And a word and a voice remains
So does the song we sing
Among men