Wedding at Cana

Participants in gracious comedy,
Francesca and Lotario agree,
Find Pleasure sat with Duty, king and queen
Upon two wine-dark thrones. Aghast at losing
Face, each blamed the other. Pleasure, pale
And drained, with croak complained, “Six arduous pails
Of sweat and tears without one drop of blood,”
While Duty, bloated, raised his fiery head
To chide, “You had to get that cut-up and
His band, the mother-manager beside.
To pay their bill, we scrimped too much on wine.”
But when the music sounded, deep and dry,
Enhanced by undertones of baking bread,
They served the purest white, the finest red.