Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES INSCRIBED UPON A CUP FORMED FROM A SKULL, by GEORGE GORDON BYRON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES INSCRIBED UPON A CUP FORMED FROM A SKULL, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Start not - nor deem my spirit fled
Last Line: This chance is theirs, to be of use.
Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lord; Byron, 6th Baron
Subject(s): Cups; Skulls


START not -- nor deem my spirit fled:
In me behold the only skull,
From which, unlike a living head,
Whatever flows is never dull.

I lived, I loved, I quaff'd, like thee;
I died: let earth my bones resign:
Fill up -- thou canst not injure me;
The worm hath fouler lips than thine.

Better to hold the sparkling grape,
Than nurse the earth-worm's slimy brood;
And circle in the goblet's shape
The drink of Gods, than reptile's food.

Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone,
In aid of others' let me shine;
And when, alas! our brains are gone,
What nobler substitute than wine?

Quaff while thou canst: another race,
When thou and thine like me are sped,
May rescue thee from earth's embrace,
And rhyme and revel with the dead.

Why not? since through life's little day
Our heads such sad effects produce;
Redeem'd from worms and wasting clay,
This chance is theirs, to be of use.





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