At the Tavern
At the Tavern
Original Text
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1913), Facsimile in The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, ed. Joanne M. Braxton (Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1993), pp. 226-27. PS 1556 AI 1993 Robarts Library.
1 A lilt and a swing,
2 And a ditty to sing,
3 Or ever the night grow old;
4 The wine is within,
5 And I'm sure t'were a sin
6For a soldier to choose to be cold, my dear,
7For a soldier to choose to be cold.
8 We're right for a spell,
9 But the fever is -- well,
10 No thing to be braved, at least;
11 So bring me the wine;
12 No low fever in mine,
13For a drink more kind than a priest, my dear,
14For a drink is more kind than a
15 priest.
Publication Start Year
1903
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Rhyme