The Irony of Office

The meat in this dish is lust!
I suppose it means we need to chew it over
Before we swallow it down.
It’ll give us ulcers.

It's fatty, too, like bacon.
It has the consistency of treacle
And the tartness of unripe grapes:
Shrinking and shirking.

It’ll be easy to tread those grapes -
Ferment them into a sweet being,
Making it permanent and delectable
And fizzing, like the nunnery
When the gardener is pruning.

William Makepeace Thackery, British novelist, author and illustrator, was born today in 1811.

Nelson Mandela, South African activist and politician, was born on this day in 1918.

Jane Austin, English author, died today in 1817.