(@3"Every now and then I like to drink the wine of life—with brandy in it!"@1—Letter of Theodore Roosevelt to Senator Lodge.) The Wine of Life!—Most men prefer A vintage bland and smooth and mild, Something to make their pulses purr With soft enchantment undefiled; But now and then one stalks along Whose thirst grows mightier by the minute, Who takes his tipple, hot and strong, The Wine of Life—with Brandy in it! Where ordinary folk desire Life to be like a watered claret, These topers call for liquid fire And with their lusty fellows share it. In every row with Destiny They are the fellows who begin it, Guzzling like Vikings, bold and free The Wine of Life—with Brandy in it! They swagger to the Bar of Fate And slap their roll upon the bar Demanding singeing distillate Fit for the hardy souls they are; They take their potent potion neat And scorn with ice or fizz to thin it. Only one mixture they find sweet— The Wine of Life—with Brandy in it! Fighters and gamesters, pioneers, Whose taste is spoiled for milder things, Who rollick down the roaring years Swigging of life that sears and stings! And we—we watch them, and we think "They drink too deep, we're all agin' it!" —Yet wish WE had the verve to drink "The Wine of Life—with Brandy in it!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SHADOWY WATERS: A DRAMATIC POEM by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS LULLABY by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON THE CORAL GROVE by JAMES GATES PERCIVAL THE SECRETARY; WRITTEN AT THE HAGUE, 1696 by MATTHEW PRIOR THE RAINBOW [IN THE SKY] by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH A WOMAN'S SONNETS: 8 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT THE TRUE LOVER by SIMON BOUGOING |