Odes Of Anacreaon:
I care not for the idle state...
One day the Muses twined the hands...
Observe when mother earth is dry...
To all that breathe the airs of heaven...
Yes -- loving is a painful thrill...
If hoarded gold possess'd a power...
Yes, be the glorious revel mine...
Within this goblet rich and deep...
'Tis true, my fading years decline...
When my thirsty soul I steep...
Away, away, you men of rules...
And whose immortal hand could shed...
Golden hues of youth are fled...
Fill me, boy, as deep a draught...
Rich in bliss, I proudly scorn...
Cupid, whose lamp has lent the ray...
Let me resign a wretched breath...
I know thou lovest a brimming measure...
I fear that love disturbs my rest...
From dread Leucadia's frowning steep...
Mix me, child, a cup divine...
Observe when mother earth is dry...
By Thomas Moore
Observe when mother earth is dry,
She drinks the droppings of the sky;
And then the dewy cordial gives
To every thirsty plant that lives.
The vapours which at evening weep
Are beverage to the swelling deep;
And when the rosy sun appears,
He drinks the ocean's misty tears.
The moon, too, quaffs her paly stream
Of lustre from the solar beam.
Then, hence with all your sober thinking!
Since nature's holy law is drinking,
I'll make the laws of nature mine,
And pledge the universe in wine!
Source Book
The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore.
by Thomas Moore
Copyright undated, very old
Published by The Walter Scott Publishing Co. Ltd.