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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO THE WINE-GOD MERLUS by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: HO! HO! THOU JOLLY GOD, WITH KINKED
Last Line: AND ROLL ME O'ER THY TONGUE ETERNALLY.
Subject(s): DRINKS & DRINKING; GODDESSES & GODS; MYTHOLOGY; SOUL; WINE;

HO! ho! thou jolly god, with kinked lips
And laughter-streaming eyes, thou liftest up
The heart of me like any wassail-cup,
And from its teeming brim, in foaming drips,
Thou blowest all my cares. I cry to thee,
Between the sips: -- Drink long and lustily;
Drink thou my ripest joys, my richest mirth,
My maddest staves of wanton minstrelsy;
Drink every song I've tinkered here on earth
With any patch of music; drink! and be
Thou drainer of my soul, and to the lees
Drink all my lover-thrills and ecstasies;
And with a final gulp -- ho! ho! -- drink me,
And roll me o'er thy tongue eternally.



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