Laudator Temporis Acti

Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), Drinking:

The thirsty earth soaks up the rain,
And drinks and gapes for drink again;
The plants suck in the earth, and are
With constant drinking fresh and fair;
The sea itself (which one would think        5
Should have but little need of drink)
Drinks twice ten thousand rivers up,
So fill'd that they o'erflow the cup.
The busy Sun (and one would guess
By's drunken fiery face no less)        10
Drinks up the sea, and when he's done,
The Moon and Stars drink up the Sun:
They drink and dance by their own light,
They drink and revel all the night:
Nothing in Nature's sober found,        15
But an eternal health goes round.
Fill up the bowl, then, fill it high,
Fill all the glasses there—for why
Should every creature drink but I?
Why, man of morals, tell me why?        20

Anacreon 21 (tr. John Herman Merivale):

The black earth drinks the falling rain,
Trees drink the moisten'd earth again,
Ocean drinks the streams that run,
Only to yield them to the sun;
And the sun himself, as soon,
Is swallow'd by the thirsty moon.
All nature drinks—if I would sip,
Why dash the goblet from my lip?

ἡ γῆ μέλαινα πίνει,
πίνει δένδρεα δ’ αὖ γῆν.
πίνει θάλασσα ἀναύρους.
ὁ δ’ ἥλιος θάλασσαν,
τὸν δ’ ἥλιον σελήνη.
τί μοι μάχεσθ’, ἑταῖροι,
καὐτῳ θέλοντι πίνειν;