Friday, February 10, 2012
Panacea
From The Bloody Brother, written by Massinger, Field, and Fletcher, in Norman Ault, ed., Elizabeth Lyrics from the Original Texts (1949; rpt. New York: Capricorn Books, 1960), pp. 453-454:
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Drink today, and drown all sorrow,
You shall perhaps not do it to-morrow:
Best, while you have it, use your breath;
There is no drinking after death.
Wine works the heart up, wakes the wit,
There is no cure 'gainst age but it:
It helps the head-ache, cough, and tisic,
And is for all diseases physic.
Then let us swill, boys, for our health;
Who drinks well, loves the commonwealth.
And he that will to bed go sober
Falls with the leaf still in October.
