What To Drink


The lily drinks the sunlight;

The primrose drinks the dew; 

The cowslip sips the running brook;

The hyacinth, heaven's blue; 

The peaches quaff the dawn-light;

The pears, the autumn noon; 

The apple blossoms drink the rain,

And the first warm air of June.

The wild flower and the violet

Draw in the April breeze; 

And the sun and rain and hurricane

Are the tipple of the trees; 

But not a bud or greenling,

From the hyssop on the wall 

To the cedars of Mount Lebanon,

Is steeped in alcohol.

From all earth's emerald basin,

From the blue sky's sapphire bowl, 

No living thing of root or wing

Partakes that daily dole. 

I'll quaff the lily's nectar;

I'll sip the cowslip's cup; 

I'll drink the shower, the sun, the breeze,

But ne'er the poisoned drop.