Misce stultitiam consiliis brevem:
Dulce est desipere in loco
Horace. Odes Bk 4, No.12 .Ls 27-28
(Drip a drop of daftness into your deliberations:
It’s lovely to be silly occasionally)
Come on in and drink from my overflowing chalice
singing polyphonically some anthems by T. Tallis
while looking round benignly, without a trace of malice,
the wine as warm as winner’s smiles from Veep-elect K. Harris.
In this crazy world where we party with a chalice
let’s invite a falling girl, by the name of Alice,
a Cheshire Cat, a queen or two, and people from the Palace –
and Nicola – she’d be happy with a slice or two of haggis.
Drifting away from that which rhymes with chalice,
Eheu fugaces, declares my drinking comrade Horace –
He’ll enjoy a few swigs more, some verse by William Morris
And even Kipling’s Mandalay, as read by tactless Boris.