What is Enough? An idle dream!
One cannot have enough, I swear,
Of Ices or Meringues-and-Cream,
Nougat or Chocolate Eclairs,
Of Oysters or of Caviar,
Of Prawns or Pate de Foie Grar!
Who would not willingly forsake
Kindred and Home, without a fuss,
For Icing from a Birthday Cake,
Or juicy fat Asparagus,
And journey over countless seas
For New Potatoes and Green Peas?
They say that a Contented Mind
Is a Continual Feast; -- but where
The mental frame, and how to find,
Which can with Turtle Soup compare?
No mind, however full of Ease,
Could be Continual Toasted Cheese.
For dinner have a sole to eat,
(Some Perrier Jouet, '92,)
An Entree then (and, with the meat,
A bottle of Lafitte will do),
A quail, a glass of port (just one),
Liqueurs and coffee, and you've done.
But should you want a hearty meal,
And not this gourmet's lightsome snack,
Fill up with terrapin and teal,
Clam chowder, crabs, and canvasback;
With all varieties of sauce,
And diff'rent wines for ev'ry course.
Your tastes may be of simpler type; --
A homely glass of "half-and-half,"
An onion and a dish of tripe,
Or headpiece of the kindly calf.
(Cruel perhaps, but then, you know,
"'Faut tout souffrir pour etre veau!")
'Tis a mistake to eat too much
Of any dishes but the best;
And you, of course, should never touch
A thing you know you can't digest;
For instance, lobster; -- if you do,
Well, -- I'm amayonnaised at you!
Let this be your heraldic crest,
A bottle (charge) of Champagne,
A chicken (gorged) with salad (dress'd),
Below, this motto to explain --
"Enough is Very Good, may be;
Too much is Good Enough for Me!"
