Against an Excess Drink

 

Components:

A glass of wine

 

Instructions:

Before those serpent alcohols

That tempt the tongue and soothe the brain

Shall rise and wind their glittering coils

About your feverish fears again,

Treat them firmly, do not fail

Before their clear hypnotic eyes;

Confess their power, yet prevail

Before they learn to turn and tease;

Utter this charm, that wit and will

May stare them down and hold them still:

“Knowledge I have

While thou hast none,

I can make songs

Beyond they tongue,

All of thy offerings

First were mine:

I keep my spirit

And need not thine.”

 

Then raise to your lips a glass of wine – spit in it, empty it down the drain.

 

By Migene Gonzales-Wippler