Basement cafeteria

Fat, happy women chewing Chicken a la King;
 Orchestra stricken with the rustle of spring;
Neat, nervous women gnawing toast and lettuce;
 Dyspeptics dully wondering, "What does eating get us?"
 Seven different vegetables suffering in steam;,
Soup, stew, and codfish balls; two cents for cream; 
Battered fruits and salad, puddings, cake; and pies,
 Abject and swooning, shrink from greedy eyes..
Stolid and indifferent, mindless bite and munch,
 Labor resolutely gluts the two-bit "Business Lunch."
With lumpy mashed potatoes, pale meat, and bread,
Peas, pie; and coffee, let them be fed.
 Thick white cup and thick white platter;
Thin folks growing thinner, fat ones getting fatter;
 Mouths smeared with mayonnaise; napkins scrubbing spoons;
Old smells, bold smells; persecuted tunes;
Scrape of knife and fork and glass; din of dirty dishes
Ah, the lovely paucity of loaves and little fishes!

 ANTOINETTE WILLSON.