Wine Song

DEAR friend, beneath this spreading tree

Where flitting shadows come and go,

With myrtles crowned and roses we

The joys of wine will freely know.

Drink wisdom in with every draught,

In wine shalt thou discover here

Thy inner fires, thy mental craft,

Increasing with each passing year.

The thousand years of this our earth

To God are but short lasting hours;

A moment’s death, a moment’s birth,

To God is one long year of ours.

Ah! would that I might live and laugh

Through one God-year a thousand fold;

That I, forever young might quaff

Oceans of wine that e’er grows old.