Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/1004

 JAMES THOMSON 03 Gifts

GIVE a man a horse he can ride, Give a man a boat he can sail , And his rank and wealth, his strength and health, On sea nor shore shall fail.

��Give a man a pipe he can smoke, Give a man a book he can read:

And his home is bright with a calm delight, Though the room be poor indeed.

��Give a man a girl he can love,

As I, O my love, love thee, And his heart is great with the pulse of Fate,

At home, on land, on sea.

��804 The Vine

THE wine of Love is music, And the feast of Love is song And when Love sits down to the banquet, Love sits long:

��Sits long and arises drunken,

But not with the feast and the wine ; He reeleth with his own heart,

That great, rich Vine.

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