It was a waste, they said, of good salami

 

            Wrong, on two counts, incidentally,

            Because to call soppressata di Calabria salami

            Is like saying that the Golden Gate is just a bridge

            Or the Odyssey a poem

 

            And as for waste, you be the judge

 

            Its target may have been of

            Indeterminate ethnicity

            But I was sure the chosen modicum would be

            As irresistible as a repentant fleshpot

            To an anchorite

 

            A salivary gland in sniffing distance

            Didn’t stand a chance

            And once a mouth starts watering

            The teeth are never far behind

 

            When at length I heard the snap

            I gave a shudder and a

            Pang of pity pierced

 

            Though not for long:

            Whoever feasted left

            Without a trace

            And beat the house

 

            I chewed on it awhile

 

            And then it dawned –

            The moral of the story,

            As it were –

 

            That even when the deck is stacked

            To have your cake and eat it too

            Is not just not impossible:

 

            It’s the only way to go