The Art(ifice) Of Parties

I have not really enjoyed any party
that I have attended since my twenties,
which feels like a lifetime ago.
And even then the shared largess
that was intended was always tempered
by the knowledge of the tiredness
which would accompany the tidying up
along with the calming of ruffled feelings
of the  partygoers who unsettled each other
with their 'honesty' under the power
of alcohol and other substances the day after.

Since those times I have learned what is best;
modest amounts of alcohol taken with a meal,
where the meal absorbs the alcohol
and the time taken with the food defines
how long and how much should be drunk,
and slower is better for aiding the digestion.