I BEG you come to-night and dine. A welcome waits you, and sound wine -- The Roederer chilly to a charm, As Juno's breath the claret warm, The sherry of an ancient brand. No Persian pomp, you understand -- A soup, a fish, two meats, and then A salad fit for aldermen (When aldermen, alas, the days! Were really worth their mayonnaise); A dish of grapes whose clusters won Their bronze in Carolinian sun; Next, cheese -- for you the Neufchatel, A bit of Cheshire likes me well; Cafe au lait or coffee black, With Kirsch or Kummel or Cognac (The German band in Irving Place By this time purple in the face); Cigars and pipes. These being through, Friends shall drop in, a very few -- Shakespeare and Milton, and no more. When these are guests I bolt the door, With Not at Home to any one Excepting Alfred Tennyson. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY AIN COUNTRIE by MARY LEE DEMAREST THE GHOSTS OF THE BUFFALOES by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY |