Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume I. Of Home: of Friendship. 1904. | | | | Poems of Friendship | | “Wreathe the bowl” | | Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | | WREATHE the bowl | |
| With flowers of soul, | |
| The brightest wit can find us; | |
| We ’ll take a flight | |
| Towards heaven to-night, | 5 |
| And leave dull earth behind us! | |
| Should Love amid | |
| The wreaths be hid | |
| That Joy, the enchanter, brings us, | |
| No danger fear | 10 |
| While wine is near— | |
| We ’ll drown him if he stings us. | |
| Then wreathe the bowl | |
| With flowers of soul, | |
| The brightest wit can find us; | 15 |
| We ’ll take a flight | |
| Towards heaven to-night, | |
| And leave dull earth behind us! | |
| |
| ’T was nectar fed | |
| Of old, ’t is said, | 20 |
| Their Junos, Joves, Apollos; | |
| And man may brew | |
| His nectar too; | |
| The rich receipt ’s as follows:— | |
| Take wine like this; | 25 |
| Let looks of bliss | |
| Around it well be blended; | |
| Then bring wit’s beam | |
| To warm the stream, | |
| And there ’s your nectar, splendid! | 30 |
| So wreathe the bowl | |
| With flowers of soul, | |
| The brightest wit can find us; | |
| We ’ll take a flight | |
| Towards heaven to-night, | 35 |
| And leave dull earth behind us! | |
| |
| Say, why did Time | |
| His glass sublime | |
| Fill up with sands unsightly, | |
| When wine he knew | 40 |
| Runs brisker through, | |
| And sparkles far more brightly? | |
| Oh, lend it us, | |
| And, smiling thus, | |
| The glass in two we ’d sever, | 45 |
| Make pleasure glide | |
| In double tide, | |
| And fill both ends for ever! | |
| Then wreathe the bowl | |
| With flowers of soul, | 50 |
| The brightest wit can find us; | |
| We ’ll take a flight | |
| Towards heaven to-night, | |
| And leave dull earth behind us! | | | | |
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