Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MENU, by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

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First Line: I beg you come tonight and dine
Last Line: Excepting alfred tennyson.
Variant Title(s): Maecenas Bids His Friend To Dine;another Invitation
Subject(s): Food & Eating; New York City; Parties; Smoking; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple; Tobacco; Pipes; Cigars; Cigarettes


I BEG you come to-night and dine.
A welcome waits you, and sound wine --
The Roederer chilly to a charm,
As Juno's breath the claret warm,
The sherry of an ancient brand.
No Persian pomp, you understand --
A soup, a fish, two meats, and then
A salad fit for aldermen
(When aldermen, alas, the days!
Were really worth their mayonnaise);
A dish of grapes whose clusters won
Their bronze in Carolinian sun;
Next, cheese -- for you the Neufchatel,
A bit of Cheshire likes me well;
Cafe au lait or coffee black,
With Kirsch or Kummel or Cognac
(The German band in Irving Place
By this time purple in the face);
Cigars and pipes. These being through,
Friends shall drop in, a very few --
Shakespeare and Milton, and no more.
When these are guests I bolt the door,
With Not at Home to any one
Excepting Alfred Tennyson.






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