Anacreontics (Benson, 1872)/Lager
LAGER.
(1866.)
We started for the Mountain,
Fanny and Jack and I;
The rising day was fresh and gay;
The horses seemed to fly.
I felt myself alive again,
And put my hand on Charley's mane,
A little ditch to try.
As we went up the Mountain,
Fanny and Jack and I,
We had to go extremely slow
To get so very high,
Which seemed a sort of paradox,
As we pushed scrambling through the rocks,
Until the top was nigh.
When we were on the Mountain,
Fanny and Jack and I,
And such a view as there are few
Beneath our feet did lie,
With hill and dale on either hand,
We thought it very, very grand—
Said some one "but its dry."
We looked at one another,
Fanny and Jack and I,
As if to ask "who has a flask?"
But there was no reply.
Quoth Jack, "If this were Deutschland here
There would be certainty of beer,
But now I none can spy.
As we went down the Mountain,
Fanny and Jack and I,
We laughed and skipped and slid and slipped
While half the morn went by;
And all our faces glowed like fire,
For still the sun was mounting higher
Along the clear, blue sky.
When we were down the Mountain,
Fanny and Jack and I,
The sun shone out, no clouds about;
O Bacchus! Weren't we dry!
We gallopped swiftly to our door
And brought some bottles to the fore,
(Or to the three, for want of more)
And made the Lager fly.
And as we drank that Lager,
Fanny and Jack and I,
It quenched the fire and cured the tire,
And made us wondrous spry.
We uttered many a fearful pun,
The woods resounded with our fun,
And Echo laughed reply.
MORAL.
Wer liebt nicht Weib und Lager,
Whenever the chance comes by,
He is a great goose and not of much use,
And just as well may die,
And when you go on a Summer ride,
Not knowing what may else betide,
Lay in a good supply.