Page:A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields.djvu/341

I come, salute and mount; up springs
A table laid as if for kings!
The glasses glitter!
Where are my friends? The hard, hard frost
Has bound the road in distance lost,
The cold is bitter.
Let me behold the hazy plains:
The curtains part; the crystal panes
Show Frost-king's traces,
Lo! Mountains, lakes, and cypress-trees,
And bending flowers! but idly, these
My hand effaces.

Ah! Life is rude and hard to bear,
We bend with weight of years and care,
Whence comfort borrow?
At the Grand Pint, all laugh at all,
With merriment resounds the hall,
Adieu to sorrow!
Adieu one instant; joy and hope
Colour in rose the prospect's-scope,
Its darkness brightening,
Awake to mirth! The hour commands!
It is by blowing on the brands
Flames start like lightning.

Farewell Ennui, and welcome Wit!
As here with friends well pleased I sit,
How swift time passes!
When Friendship, Friendship, is the toast,
Brims up the best wine of mine host,
We drink full glasses.