Good and Evil

I have the aperitif before lunch, you drink a digestif later.
We both share a bottle of wine.
What other ritual can more aptly point to a civilized society?
But there’s a fly in the soup.

We leave the table and go about our business.
One is the executioner, the other a victim;
Alas, we sat at different tables.
We know civility, but we’re not civilized.

The daughter of one’s friend is worthy of respect.
The enemy’s mother is not.
Are we civilized?
Did we dream of the ‘iron lady’ while courting a lady?

Good and evil, instruments of different gods,
Reputed lanes of redemption for each.