Contents -Volume INDEX -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889

To His Companion at Sea

By Aquila Rose (1695–1723)

DEBARRED, my friend, of all the joys

The land, and charming sex can give,

Nor wind, nor wave, our peace destroys;

We’ll laugh, and drink, and nobly live.

The generous wine imparts a heat

To raise and quicken every sense.

No thoughts of death our bliss defeat,

Nor steal away our innocence.

Secure, should earth in ruins lie,

Should seas and skies in rage combine;

Unmoved, all dangers we’ll defy,

And feast our souls with generous wine.

For, should a fear each sense possess,

Of chilly death and endless fate,

Our sorrow ne’er can make it less;

But wine alone can dissipate.

Then fill the glass; nay, fill a bowl,

And fill it up with sparkling wine;

It shall the strongest grief control,

And make soft wit with pleasure join.