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For friends are more than Arno's store
Of garnered charm, and he

Were blither with us here the night
Than Titian bids him be.

Throw ope the window to the stars,
And let the warm night in!

Who knows what revelry in Mars
May rhyme with rouse akin?

Fill up and drain the loving cup

And leave no drop to waste!

The moon looks in to see what's up

Begad, she'd like a taste!

What odds if Leinster's kingly roll

Be now an idle thing?

The world is his who takes his toll,

A vagrant or a king.

What though the crown be melted down,

And the heir a gypsy roam?

The Kavanagh receives to-night!

McMurrough is at home!

We three and the barley-bree!

And the moonlight on the floor!

Who were a man to do with less?

What emperor has more?

Three stone jugs of Cruiskeen Lawn,

And three stout hearts to drain

A slanter to the truth in the heart of youth

And the joy of the love of men.

Richard Hovey [1864-1900]

GLINTS O' SUNSHINE

SONG

From "Love's Labor's Lost"

I-SPRING

WHEN daisies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,

Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
Cuckoo;

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Cuckoo, cuckoo, O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks, When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws, And maidens bleach their summer smocks,

The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men; for thus sings he,

Cuckoo;

Cuckoo, cuckoo, O word of fear,

Unpleasing to a married ear!

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When icicles hang by the wall,

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,

And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipped, and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl,

Tu-who;

Tu-whit, tu-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,

And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-who;

Tu-whit, tu-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

William Shakespeare [1564-1616]

THE WIDOW

THE widow can bake, and the widow can brew,
The widow can shape, an' the widow can sew,
An' mony braw things the widow can do;
Then have at the widow, my laddie.

Wi' courage attack her baith early an' late;
To kiss her an' clap her ye maunna be blate:
Speak weel, an' do better: for that's the best gate
To win a young widow, my laddie.

The widow she's youthfu', an' never ae hair'
The waur o' the wearing, an' has a good skair
O' everything lovely; she's witty an' fair,

An' has a rich jointure, my laddie.

What could ye wish better, your pleasure to crown,
Than a widow, the bonniest toast in the town,
Wi' naithing but draw in your stool and sit down,
An' sport wi' the widow, my laddie.

Then till her, an' kill her wi' courtesy dead,
Though stark love an' kindness be a' ye can plead;
Be heartsome an' airy, an' hope to succeed

Wi' a bonny gay widow, my laddie.
Strike iron while it's het, if ye'd have it to wald;/
For fortune ay favors the active an' bauld,
But ruins the wooer that's thoughtless an' cauld,
Unfit for the widow, my laddie.

Allan Ramsay [1686-175

SNEEZING

WHAT a moment, what a doubt!

All my nose is inside out,

All my thrilling, tickling caustic,

Pyramid rhinocerostic,

Wants to sneeze and cannot do it!

How it yearns me, thrills me, stings me,

How with rapturous torment wrings me!

Now says, "Sneeze, you fool,-get through it."
Sheeshee oh! 'tis most del-ishi-

Ishi-ishi-most del-ishi!

(Hang it, I shall sneeze till spring!)
Snuff is a delicious thing.

Leigh Hunt [1784-1859]

CAUTIONARY VERSES TO YOUTH OF BOTH SEXES

My little dears, who learn to read, pray early learn to shun
That very silly thing indeed, which people call a pun;
Read Entick's rules, and 'twill be found how simple an
offence

It is to make the self-same sound afford a double sense.

For instance, ale may make you ail, your aunt an ant may kill,

T

You in a vale may buy a veil, and Bill may pay the bill.
Or if to France your bark you steer, at Dover, it may be
A peer appears upon the pier, who, blind, still goes to sea.

Thus one might say, when to a treat good friends accept our greeting,

'Tis meet that men who meet to eat should eat their meat when meeting.

Brawn on the board's no bore indeed, although from boar prepared;

Nor can the fowl, on which we feed, foul feeding be declared.

Thus one ripe fruit may be a pear, and yet be pared again, And still be one, which seemeth rare until we do explain.

It therefore should be all your aim to speak with ample care: For who, however fond of game, would choose to swallow hair?

A fat man's gait may make us smile, who have no gate to close:

The farmer sitting on his stile no stylish person knows: Perfumers men of scents must be; some Scilly men are bright;

A brown man oft deep read we see, a black a wicked wight.

Most wealthy men good manors have, however vulgar they;
And actors still the harder slave, the oftener they play;
So poets can't the baize obtain, unless their tailors choose;
While grooms and coachmen, not in vain, each evening seek
I the Mews.

The dyer who by dyeing lives, a dire life maintains;
The glazier, it is known, receives his profits from his panes:
By gardeners thyme is tied, 'tis true, when spring is in its
prime;

But time or tide won't wait for you, if you are tied for time.

Then now you see, my little dears, the way to make a pun; A trick which you, through coming years, should sedulously shun:

The fault admits of no defence; for wheresoe'er 'tis found, ! You sacrifice for sound the sense: the sense is never sound.

So let your words and actions too, one single meaning prove, And, just in all you say or do, you'll gain esteem and love;" In mirth and play no harm you'll know, when duty's task is done;

But parents ne'er should let you go unpunished for a pun. Theodore Edward Hook [1788-1841]

A CREDO

FOR the sole edification
Of this decent congregation,
Goodly people, by your grant
I will sing a holy chant-

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