Poem by Rupert Atkinson

A Drinking Song

Let a man drink,

For what can he think
Worthy to sink or worthy to rise-
Seeing the gods are up in the skies !
And seeing the devil has snatched for his prize,
Much of the earth
And most of our mirth,
And all that is worth .... the lust of your eyes?

And so let us drain

Tankards again,
Flagons amain! . . . Bring 'em all in! . . .
And so we'll endeavour to baffle his sin,
Whose but the devil's — outdoing his din.

And how but by this

Most sweet artifice
Of wine for her kiss — and more wine for his kin?

And so let us drink,

For truly, I think
That the gods wink — when wine is the test!
And surely their laughter and ours is the best,
Theirs in their scorn of us, ours in unrest —

Wine, again wine !

Till we, too, shine
Tranquil . . . divine! . . . completing their jest!

1. Melbourne Sonnets. 8. The Stock Exchange
2. Melbourne Sonnets. 4. On the Kerb
3. Promethean
4. Melbourne Sonnets. 13. On the Block
5. Evensong

Eugene Field A Drinking Song ("Come, brothers, share the fellowship")

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