Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COLLEGE DRINKING SONG by GEORGE SANTAYANA

Poet Analysis

First Line: AS WE SAY GOOD-BYE AT THE PARTING WAYS
Last Line: DRINK, BOYS, DRINK!
Subject(s): ALCOHOLISM & ALCOHOLICS;
As we say good-bye at the parting ways,
Let us sing together a song of praise,
Let us drink a toast to our college days,
To the walks through a world made for you and me,
To the boisterous farce and the echoing glee,
To the wonderful A and the dreadful E,
Drink, boys, drink!

To the games we won and the games we lost,
For we couldn't tell which before we tossed,
And who cares now who paid the cost?
To the woman's love that came and went,
To the good wine drunk and the money spent,
To the night-long foolish argument,
Drink, boys, drink!

To the times when men were men indeed,
To our fathers' youth and our mothers' creed,
And to every faith that may succeed,
To the after age and the later tongue
That will ring the changes we have rung
And sing the songs we have left unsung,
Drink, boys, drink!

When the eye is dull and the hand is cold,
Then should the pocket be full of gold,
For no one will love us when we're old.
So to vulgar gold and what it gets
And an honest end to all our debts,
For an old wine softens old regrets,
Drink, boys, drink!

When we are asleep beneath grey stone,
Our children's lives shall repeat our own,
For the light remains though the days be flown.
To the opening buds of this ended May,
And to all sweet things that will not stay,
And to every dog that has had his day,
Drink, boys, drink!



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