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Philip Spiess
I said on "What's New" that I had written on the subject of drinking, but that such would fit better on the "Message Forum" (and also Dave Buchholz and I have been discussing poetry), so here's a little ditty that I wrote in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in 1967; needless to say, I had been drinking, possibly at "The Dirty Duck" (The Black Swan Inn):
"The Invocation to the Muse":
Wine of Life, illumine me!
I would Dionysus be,
God of Grapes, but not of Wrath,
To tumble down the Primrose Path!
Bound to join the Bacchic Band,
I'd bring a bottle in each hand;
So cautious not to let them slip,
I'd clasp each tightly to my lip
Till, emptied. to my tongue's delight,
Each bottle's contents held me tight!
Come, clowning comrades, raise the rout
And, drunk and drowning, drown me out!
Splash Scotch and Soda, join the din,
Vouchsafe Vermouth, and guzzle Gin!
Add Rum and Rhinewine to the roar,
Lift glasses high: let Spirits soar!
Do not, in Bourpin', let us hear
The question: "Come, what Ale's the Beer?"
Be droll, be drunk, be glad, be gay,
Be comic, as becomes today!
Leave sickness, sternness, sadness, sorrow --
Enough of that will come tomorrow!
Later, in deep remorse that I had possibly alienated my Muse (see the last act of Offenbach's opera, Tales of Hoffmann -- Nelson take note), I wrote the following (1968):
"Apologia":
Thalia! Muse of Comedy, I inflict
Upon thy sacred memory this ode.
It seeks, in touching verses, to depict
My sum career as toper a la mode.
Should it offend, I plead as an excuse
Your sense of humor, most amusing Muse!
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Very clever!!!!!
