FILL a bowl of lusty wine, Briskest Daughter of the vine; Fill 't until it sea-like flow, That my cheek may once more glow. I am fifty winters old, Blood then stagnates and grows cold, And when youthful heat decays, We must help it by these ways. Wine breeds mirth, and mirth imparts Heat and courage to our hearts, Which in old men else are lead, And not warm'd would soon be dead. Now I'm sprightly, fill agen, Stop not though they mount to ten; Though I stagger do not spare, 'Tis to rock and still my ear; Though I stammer 'tis no matter, I should do the same with water; When I belch, I am but trying How much better 'tis than sighing; If a tear spring in mine eye, 'Tis for joy not grief I cry: This is living without thinking, These are the effects of drinking. Fill a main, (Boy) fill a main, Whilst I drink I feel no pain; Gout or palsy I have none, Hang the colic and the stone; I methinks grow young again, New blood springs in ev'ry vein, And supply it (Sirrah) still, Whilst I drink you sure may fill: If I nod, Boy, rouse me up With a bigger fuller cup; But when that, Boy, will not do, Faith e'en let me then go to, For 'tis better far to lie Down to sleep than down to die. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MADEIRA FROM THE SEA by SARA TEASDALE CANCIONEROS: 2 by CRISTOBAL DE CASTILLEJO THE AIM WAS SONG by ROBERT FROST SIT DOWN SAD SOUL by BRYAN WALLER PROCTER THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: DECEMBER by EDMUND SPENSER THE EARLY PRIMROSE by HENRY KIRKE WHITE THE ETERNAL GOODNESS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER A SONG OF LABOUR; DEDICATED TO MY FELLOW-WORKERS WITH PICK AND SHOVEL by ALEXANDER ANDERSON VERSES ON SEEING IN AN ALBUM A SKETCH OF AN OLD GATEWAY by BERNARD BARTON |