Yes, after all, I'm free to say That I rejoice to be Standing as I do stand to-day 'Twixt devil and deep sea; For, though my face be dark with care Or with a grimace shine, Each haply falls unto my share; Since I am thirty-nine! 'Tis passing meet to make good cheer And lord it like a king, Since only once we catch the year That doesn't mean a thing. O happy day! O gracious day! I pledge thee in this wine-- Come let us journey on our way A year, good Thirty-Nine! HORACE I, 18. O Varus mine Plant thou the vine Within this kindly soil of Tibur; Nor temporal woes Nor spiritual knows The man who's a discreet imbiber. For who doth croak Of being broke Or who of warfare, after drinking? With bowl atween us, Of smiling Venus And Bacchus shall we sing, I'm thinking. Of symptoms fell Which brawls impel Historic data give us warning; The wretch who fights When full of nights Is bound to have a head next morning. I do not scorn A friendly horn, But noisy toots--I can't abide 'em! Your howling bat Is stale and flat To one who knows, because he's tried 'em! The secrets of The life of love (Companionship with girls and toddy) I would not drag With drunken brag Into the ken of everybody, But in the shade Let some coy maid With smilax wreathe my flagon's nozzle-- Then, all day long, With mirth and song, Shall I enjoy a quiet sozzle! THREE RHINELAND DRINKING SONGS. I. If our life is the life of a flower (And that's what some sages are thinking), We should moisten the bud with a health-giving flood And 'twill bloom all the sweeter-- Yes, life's the completer For drinking, and drinking, and drinking! If it be that our life is a journey (As many wise folks are opining), We should sprinkle the way with the rain while we may; Though dusty and dreary, 'Tis made cool and cheery With wining, and wining, and wining! If this life that we live be a dreaming (As pessimist people are thinking), To induce pleasant dreams there is nothing, me seems, Like this sweet prescription, That baffles description-- This drinking, and drinking, and drinking! II. ("Fiducit.") Three comrades on the German Rhine-- Defying care and weather-- Together quaffed the mellow wine And sung their songs together, What recked they of the griefs of life With wine and song to cheer them? Though elsewhere trouble might be rife, It would not come anear them!