Page:Poems - Tennyson (1843) - Volume 2 of 2.djvu/199

 Each month, a birth-day coming on, We drink defying trouble, Or sometimes two would meet in one, And then we drank it double;

Whether the vintage, yet unkept, Had relish fiery-new, Or, elbow-deep in sawdust, slept, As old as Waterloo; Or stow'd (when classic Canning died) In musty bins and chambers, Had cast upon its crusty side The gloom of ten Decembers.

The Muse, the jolly Muse, it is! She answer'd to my call, She changes with that mood or this, Is all-in-all to all: She lit the spark within my throat, To make my blood run quicker, Used all her fiery will, and smote Her life into the liquor.