Yo, Bacchus, when the twining vines
Curl round our knees in twirling lines
And purring panthers draw your car
Triumphant up outside a bar
And all clink glasses, raise them high
As sunset spreads across the sky
And you high five with all the folk
In leopardskin, and share a joke
With flowers peeping through your hair
And smile with parted lips, I’m there!
I’ll fill the cups with ruby wine,
Push up your shades, dear god divine,
Here, on the edge of summer night
All raise a glass and pledge delight.
But Bacchus, do not tempt us down
Into the winecup where we drown
Let us set glasses down, I plead
And not go on where wine is need
And days without are bleak and cold
Empty of hope, and all we hold
Poured in the cup and poured away
Til drunkeness devours our day
And all we could have grown to be
Emptied in you and lost to me…
Yo, Bacchus, help us drink and stop
Fill up our winecup to the top
In happiness and not in pain
To drink it once, and not again.
Yo, smiling Bacchus, turn your face
Be kind to us, and lend us grace:
Teach us to drink without disaster
And be our friend, and not our master.
February 20th 2018, on a train between Provo and Chicago.
