Poem by Thomas Moore

From “Irish Melodies”. 89. Drink of This Cup

DRINK of this cup; — you’ll find there’s a spell in
      Its every drop ’gainst the ills of mortality;
Talk of the cordial that sparkled for Helen;
        Her cup was a fiction, but this is reality.
Would you forget the dark world we are in
        Just taste of the bubble that gleams on the top of it;
But would you rise above earth, till akin
        To immortals themselves, you must drain every drop of it!
Send round the cup — for oh there’s a spell in
        Its every drop ’gainst the ills of mortality;
Talk of the cordial that sparkled for Helen!
        Her cup was a fiction, but this is reality.

Never was philter form’d with such power
        To charm and bewilder as this we are quaffing;
Its magic began when, in Autumn’s rich hour,
        A harvest of gold in the fields it stood laughing.
There having, by Nature’s enchantment, been fill’d
        With the balm and the bloom of her kindliest weather,
This wonderful juice from its core was distill’d
        To enliven such hearts as are here brought together.
Then drink of the cup — you’ll find there’s a spell in
        Its every drop ’gainst the ills of mortality;
Talk of the cordial that sparkled for Helen!
        Her cup was a fiction, but this is reality.

And though, perhaps — but breathe it to no one —
        Like liquor the witch brews at midnight so awful,
This philter in secret was first taught to flow on,
        Yet ’tisn’t less potent for being unlawful.
And, even though it taste of the smoke of that flame
        Which in silence extracted its virtue forbidden —
Fill up — there’s a fire in some hearts I could name,
        Which may work too its charm, though as lawless and hidden.
So drink of the cup — for oh there’s a spell in
        Its very drop ’gainst the ills of mortality;
Talk of the cordial that sparkled for Helen!
        Her cup was a fiction, but this is reality.

1. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 54
2. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 46
3. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 15
4. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 52
5. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 75

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