21.
'Tis we who to wine's yoke our necks incline,
And risk our lives to gain the smiles of wine;
The henchman grasps the flagon by its throat
And squeezes out the lifeblood of the wine.
22.
Here in this tavern haunt I make my lair,
Pawning for wine, heart, soul, and all I wear,
Without a hope of bliss, or fear of bale,
Rapt above water, earth and fire and air.
23.
Quoth fish to duck, "'Twill be a sad affair,
If this brook leaves its channel dry and bare;"
To whom the duck, " When I am dead and roasted
The brook may run with wine for aught I care."
21. L. N. Line 3 is in metre 19.
22. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Note the diphthong in mái dissolved in scanning. Bl., Prosody 13.
23. L. Meaning Après nous le déluge.
