HENCE Burgundy, Claret, and Port, Away with old Hock and Madeira, Too earthly ye are for my sport; There's a beverage brighter and clearer. Instead of a pitiful rummer, My wine overbrims a whole summer; My bowl is the sky, And I drink at my eye, Till I feel in the brain A Delphian pain-- Then follow, my Caius! then follow: On the green of the hill We will drink our fill Of golden sunshine, Till our brains intertwine With the glory and grace of Apollo! God of the Meridian, And of the East and West, To thee my soul is flown, And my body is earthward press'd.-- It is an awful mission, A terrible division; And leaves a gulph austere To be fill'd with worldly fear. Aye, when the soul is fled To high above our head, Affrighted do we gaze After its airy maze, As doth a mother wild, When her young infant child Is in an eagle's claws-- And is not this the cause Of madness?--God of Song, Thou bearest me along Through sights I scarce can bear: O let me, let me share With the hot lyre and thee, The staid Philosophy. Temper my lonely hours, And let me see thy bowers More unalarm'd! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: BOMBER IN LONDON by RUDYARD KIPLING OH, LOVE THOU TOO! by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS THE SINGERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) NOS IMMORTALES by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET TO THE DEAD by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD |