Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A DRINKING SONG, by NORMAN ROWLAND GALE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DRINKING SONG, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Faces prim and starched and yellow
Last Line: Hang-lip melancholy!
Variant Title(s): The Cavalier's Song
Subject(s): Bacchus; Courtship; Mythology - Classical; Youth


FACES prim and starched and yellow
Ne'er would meet us on the road
If to Bacchus, plump and mellow,
Lads would pay the debt that's owed.
Pledge with me the tavern scarlet
Warm upon his ample cheeks!
Shirk the toast, and be a varlet
Fit for what the spigot leaks!
Here's a pint to Luck,
Here's a quart to Folly!
Here's a butt to drench the slut,
Hang-lip Melancholy!

If the skein of life be twisted,
Bacchus can the knot untie;
If Jade Fortune turn close-fisted,
Bacchus knows to melt her eye.
Ho! his giant laugh and lusty,
Ho! his nimble train of winks,
Could unfreeze the desert-dusty,
Mumchance, grapeless, Roundhead Sphinx!
Here's a pint to Luck,
Here's a quart to Folly!
Here's a butt to souse the slut,
Hang-lip Melancholy!

Would you beg of whitethroat Rosa,
Clink a glass with Bacchus first;
If it chance the maiden shows a
Black face, home, and drown the worst!
What? A wench with sack to meddle?
Let her perish in her pout!
Tinker Love has leave to peddle
While we roar the flagon out.
Here's a pint to Luck,
Here's a quart to Folly!
Here's a butt to drown the slut,
Hang-lip Melancholy!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net