Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE OLD REPROBATE'S SONG, by OLIVER MARBLE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE OLD REPROBATE'S SONG, by                    
First Line: When I was young I'd capacity
Last Line: At how much I once was drinking.
Subject(s): Drinks & Drinking; Wine


When I was young I'd capacity,
At which I've lived to wonder;
No matter how long or hard the spree,
I'd drink still more, by thunder!
No matter what it chanced to be
That made my friends feel frisky,
Madeira, flip, or sangaree—
I'd go top off on whiskey!

I'd drink all day and drink all night,
The morn and evening after—
I often did—and in despite
Arose betimes with laughter;
My stomach like a cask was sound,
My head loved stormy weather;
Drink by the quart, food by the pound,
I'd take for months together.

I can't drink now as I did then;
But still I like a snifter.
No glass I've seen, no matter when,
But my elbow bent to lift her.
My furrowed brow is what you see,
My top with snow is sprinkled—
And it's O for my old capacity,
Unfrosted and unwrinkled!

And now I'm old perhaps I ought
To sorrow for such vices,
But I love to think I held as naught
Such alcoholic crises.
My constitution unimpaired,
I sit here slyly blinking,
And chuckling o'er how once they stared
At how much I once was drinking.





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