I'VE been drinking, I've been drinking, To intoxication's edge; Do not chide me; for the tipple Wasn't mentioned in the pledge. Nay, believe me, -- 't was not Brandy Wrought the roses that you see; One may get a finer crimson From a purer eau-de-vie. No, indeed; it was not Claret (That were something overweak); There's a vastly better vintage For the painting of a cheek. Not Angelica, -- the honey By Loyola's children pressed From the Andalusian clusters Ripened in the Golden West; Not Madeira, Hock, nor Sherry; No, indeed, 't is none of these Makes me giddy in the forehead, Makes me tremble in the knees. No; 't is not the Gallic "Widow" That has turned my foolish brain, Nor the wine of any vineyard Found in Germany or Spain. Nay -- I own it! -- 't is the nectar That a favored lover sips (All unheeding of the danger!) From a maiden's pulpy lips! This it is that I've been drinking To intoxication's edge; Till I marvel that the tipple Is n't mentioned in the pledge! For the taste is so enchanting 'T is impossible to see, Should it grow into a habit, What the consequence may be. Well, I'll heed the sage's lesson, Pleasant, though it prove in vain, And by drinking very largely Try to sober me again! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FATHER WILLIAM [QUESTIONED], FR. ALICE IN WONDERLAND by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON THE AKOND [OR, AKHOND] OF SWAT by EDWARD LEAR DANAIDES: THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND EARTH by AESCHYLUS THE IMPROVISATORE: ALBERT AND EMILY by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THY DREAMS OMINOUS by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN FRAGMENT OF AN ODE TO PRINCE CHARLES by ROBERT BURNS |