Fish and Chips on Saturday

​I’m having fish and chips on Saturday
And I don’t think you quite get just how excited you will find me on that day
    Each one’s caught fresh and hooked on rod & reel
    By supermen with nerves of steel
Who moil on the roiling Klondike waves

Dad’s favorite meal for years — all the hatcheries and piers
He says: “Try a little lemon when the Four Monks can’t be found”
They’re batter fried, with beer — and right on time appear
Just when the work-week’s done its best to drag you down

I’m having fish and chips on Saturday  —  grab two bits, and you I
    Will gorge Poseidon’s puppies by the pound

​
I know that some of you might make a fuss
And pinch your nose and try to tell me: “Food that’s served in newsprint just ain’t right!”
    You say that only when the lord decrees,
    Like when it’s Lent, and mom says please,
Yes, only then will you give up the fight

But, still, you live on earth — and, as such, weren’t you birthed
In the hopes that you’d participate now and then?
Pull up your big boy pants — get in line, and take a chance,
And quit complaining that you don’t know where those fish have been

I’m having fish and chips on Saturday  —  I hope you come around
    Hey! What’s a little methyl-mercury poison between friends?

You may have heard about miss Alice May
Who’s there when love grows cold, that she might stoke again some old forgotten flame
    To me, a frittered cod is a kindred treat
    It’s hot and sopped in grease
A dere-licious bite for king and cur the same

Yea, though we all walk through — the valley of the ghouls,
And the reaper, and the pale horse, and the wraith,
We needn’t fear anymore — ‘cuz when the captain’s on the shore
Thou shalt no longer strain to understand the faith

I’m having fish and chips on Saturday  —  and as one and one make two . . .
    . . . fish, red fish, blue fish;  I’ll be shouting: “Hip, Hip, Hooray!”