Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MENU, by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH Poet's Biography 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. | Other Poems of Interest...ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON CHANEL NO. 5 by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR OLD MEN ON THE COURTHOUSE LAWN, MURRAY, KENTUCKY by JAMES GALVIN DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 2. LOS CIGARILLOS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON |
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