Little Joys

by Ella Leith

I can’t tell you why, but this I know:

Wine tastes best poured from a carafe

and crisps taste better served in a bowl

and olives taste best – you may well laugh –

on toothpicks. So do sausage rolls

and gherkins lined up in a row.

And what I think is the height of class:

Drinking orange squash from a martini glass.

And something else, as well, is true:

Champagne tastes best not in crystal-cut

coupes and flutes, but when needed most –

un-chilled, and spilled into plastic cups

for the frenzied fun of urgent toasts.

For these big joys, nothing else will do.

But little joys should be savoured slow

– I can’t tell you why, but this I know.