Guest poem submitted by Janice:
(Poem #1811) A Drinking Song Wine comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye; That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die. I lift the glass to my mouth, I look at you, and I sigh. |
I was going through the Yeats collection on Minstrels and noticed that this wasn't part of it. "A Drinking Song" has been one of my favourite poems for years. It captures, at least I feel it does, the sweet, underlying sadness that runs through a large number of his poems ("The Song of Wandering Aengus", "He Gives his Beloved Certain Rhymes", "Cloths of Heaven", "Adam's Curse" and many more), this sense of great loss and longing, of something that remains just out of reach. I love the simplicity of these lines, their poignancy, the inbuilt harshness of 'before we grow old and die' and the soft despair of 'I look at you, and I sigh'. And though the title evokes a celebration, it's a song mingled with sorrow. Probably the best kind. Hope you enjoy the poem, Janice.
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