 | The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley |  |
517
TO THE WINE-GOD MERLUS
A Toast of Jucklet's
Ho ho! thou jolly god, with kinkèd lipsAnd laughter-streaming eyes, thou liftest up
The heart of me like any wassail-cup,
And from its teeming brim, in foaming drips,
Thou blowest all my cares. I cry to thee,
Between the sips:—Drink long and lustily;
Drink thou my ripest joys, my richest mirth,
My maddest staves of wanton minstrelsy;
Drink every song I've tinkered here on earth
With any patch of music; drink! and be
Thou drainer of my soul, and to the lees
Drink all my lover-thrills and ecstasies;
And with a final gulp—ho! ho!—drink me,
And roll me o'er thy tongue eternally.
| The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley | |