Classic Poem

Drink! They dissolve, the faint-whispering
Froth-pearls; oh, drink!
Hasten! The lovely, the lofty, the noble
Vainly you'll seek if the soul of them sink.
Fool, if you fasten your eyes on the bubble,
Water is all you may quaff at the brink!

Take! They depart, the enravishing
Hours; then take!
All the most exquisite laughter and rapture
Rise and subside while the moment's at stake.
Joy in the midst of its flight you must capture;
Rockets when highest the soonest will break.

Soon from the earth flies enspiriting
Pleasure, ah soon!
Caught by the youth in his keen expectation
Out of the grape as a delicate boon,
Then from the rose-mouth that buds with elation
Straightway 't is off to its home o'er the moon.