Jolly nose! the bright rubies that garnish thy tip Are dug from the mines of Canary; And to keep up their lustre I moisten my lip With hogsheads of claret and sherry. Jolly nose! he who sees thee across a broad glass Beholds thee in all thy perfection; And to the pale snout of a temperate ass Entertains the profoundest objection. For a big-bellied glass is the palette I use, And the choicest of wine is my colour; And I find that my nose takes the mellowest hues The fuller I fill it—the fuller! Jolly nose! there are fools who say drink hurts the sight; Such dullards know nothing about it. 'Tis better, with wine, to extinguish the light, Than live always in darkness without it! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE WATER NYMPHS DRINKING AT THE FOUNTAIN by ROBERT HERRICK THE BIGLOW PAPERS: 3. WHAT MR. ROBINSON THINKS by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE FUGITIVE by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA SONNET: LEAVES by WILLIAM BARNES THE POWERFUL by WILLIAM ROSE BENET RAMBLE OF THE GODS THROUGH BIRMINGHAM, SELECTION by JAMES BISSET |