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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A BACCHIC LYRIC by HERBERT LIONEL DOGGETT

First Line: TAKE FROM DEAD ROME
Last Line: LOVE AND WINE AND ROSES.
Subject(s): PLEASURE; TOASTS;

TAKE from dead Rome
The home
Of minstrelsy.
Maids still are fair,
I swear,
As Lalage.

Comrades, let us ever sing,
While the time disposes,
And our clinking glasses ring,
Love and wine and roses.

I.

Red the cherry, red the rose,
Red the ruby wine;
Redder come the maiden's lips
Laughing up to mine.

II.

As the straying sunbeams dance
In the shaded brook,
Dance the sparkles in her eyes;
Arch and coy her look.

III.

White the lily, white the dove,
White the marble bright;
Whiter still her curving throat,
Glist'ning in the light.

IV.

She has cheeks enclareted,
Softest ringlets brown.
Come, each fill a brimming glass,
To her drink it down.

While our clinking glasses ring,
And the time disposes,
Comrades, let us ever sing
Love and wine and roses.



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