Musa Burschicosa A Book of Songs for Students and University Men. By John Stuart Blackie |
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CONCERNING I AND NON-I.
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 | Musa Burschicosa |  |
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CONCERNING I AND NON-I.
A Metaphysical Song.
Since father Noah first tapped the vine,
And warmed his jolly old nose,
All men to drinking do much incline,
But why, no drinker yet knows;
We drink and we never think how!
And yet, in our drinking,
The root of deep thinking
Lies very profound,
As I will expound
To all who will drink with me now!
And warmed his jolly old nose,
All men to drinking do much incline,
But why, no drinker yet knows;
We drink and we never think how!
And yet, in our drinking,
The root of deep thinking
Lies very profound,
As I will expound
To all who will drink with me now!
The poets, God knows, a jovial race,
Have ever been lauding of wine;
Of Bacchus they sing, and his rosy face,
And the draught of the beaker divine;
Yet all their fine phrases are vain;
They pour out the essence
Of brain-effervescence,
With rhyme and rant
And jingling cant,
But nothing at all they explain.
Have ever been lauding of wine;
Of Bacchus they sing, and his rosy face,
And the draught of the beaker divine;
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They pour out the essence
Of brain-effervescence,
With rhyme and rant
And jingling cant,
But nothing at all they explain.
But I, who quaff the thoughtful well
Of Plato and old Aristotle,
And Kant and Fichte and Hegel can tell
The wisdom that lies in the bottle;
I drink, and in drinking I know:
With glance keen and nimble
I pierce through the symbol,
And seize the soul
Of truth in the bowl,
Behind the mere sensuous show!
Of Plato and old Aristotle,
And Kant and Fichte and Hegel can tell
The wisdom that lies in the bottle;
I drink, and in drinking I know:
With glance keen and nimble
I pierce through the symbol,
And seize the soul
Of truth in the bowl,
Behind the mere sensuous show!
Now brim your glass, and plant it well
Beneath your nose on the table,
And you will find what philosophers tell
Of I and non-I is no fable.
Now, listen to wisdom, my son!
Myself am the subject,
This wine is the object;
These things are two,
But I'll prove to you
That subject and object are one.
Beneath your nose on the table,
And you will find what philosophers tell
Of I and non-I is no fable.
Now, listen to wisdom, my son!
Myself am the subject,
This wine is the object;
These things are two,
But I'll prove to you
That subject and object are one.
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I take this glass in my hand, and stand
Upon my legs, if I can,
And look and smile benign and bland,
And feel that I am a man.
Now stretch all the strength of your brains!
I drink—and the object
Is lost in the subject,
Making one entity,
In the identity
Of me, and the wine in my veins!
Upon my legs, if I can,
And look and smile benign and bland,
And feel that I am a man.
Now stretch all the strength of your brains!
I drink—and the object
Is lost in the subject,
Making one entity,
In the identity
Of me, and the wine in my veins!
And now if Hamilton, Fraser, or Mill,
This point can better explain,
You may learn from them, with method and skill,
To plumb the abyss of your brain;
But this simple faith I avow,
The root of true thinking
Lies just in deep drinking,
As I have shown
In a way of my own,
To this jolly good company now.
This point can better explain,
You may learn from them, with method and skill,
To plumb the abyss of your brain;
But this simple faith I avow,
The root of true thinking
Lies just in deep drinking,
As I have shown
In a way of my own,
To this jolly good company now.
| Musa Burschicosa | |