After Callimachus

(Hecale, 248)

I wish you wouldn’t yell at me for trying.
            Brown olives should be picked before they are ripe;
pale olives are good for lamb stew, but must be pitted,
                        then stored in brine.
People are different, too; when the bitter
            black olive, determined to keep
                        its shape, insists
it shouldn’t be crushed with the green ones,
            good cooks know it isn’t malingering, or lying.