Eugene Field

A Rhine-Land Drinking Song

If our own life is the life of a flower
    (And that's what some sages are thinking),
We should moisten the bud with a health-giving flood
      And 'twill bloom all the sweeter—
      Yes, life's the completer
    For drinking,
          and drinking,
                and drinking.

If it be that our life is a journey
    (As many wise folk are opining),
We should sprinkle the way with the rain while we may;
      Though dusty and dreary,
      'Tis made cool and cheery
    With wining,
          and wining,
                and wining.

If this life that we live be a dreaming
    (As pessimist people are thinking),
To induce pleasant dreams there is nothing, meseems,
      Like this sweet prescription,
      That baffles description—
    This drinking,
          and drinking,
                and drinking.