Page:Poets of John Company.djvu/71



We meet 'neath the sounding rafter.
 * And the walls around are bare,

As they shout to our peals of laughter,
 * It seems that the dead are there;

So stand to your glasses! steady!
 * We drink in our comrades' eyes;

A cup to the dead already—
 * Hurrah! for the next that dies.

Not here are the goblets glowing,
 * Not here is the vintage sweet;

'Tis cold, as our hearts are growing.
 * And dark, as the doom we meet.

But stand to your glasses! steady!
 * And soon shall our pulses rise;

Here's a cup to the dead already—
 * Hurrah! for the next that dies.

There's many a hand that's shaking,
 * And many a cheek that's sunk;

But soon, though our hearts are breaking.
 * They'll burn with the wine we've drunk.

So stand to your glasses! steady!
 * 'Tis here the revival lies;

A cup to the dead already!
 * And hurrah! for the next that dies.