THE
KAVANAGH
|
|
A STONE
jug and a pewter mug,
And a table set for three!
A jug and a mug at every place,
And a biscuit or two with Brie!
Three stone jugs of Cruiskeen Lawn, |
5 |
And
a cheese like crusted foam!
The Kavanagh receives to-night!
McMurrough is at home!
We
three and the barley-bree!
And a health to the one away,
|
10 |
Who
drifts down careless Italy,
God's wanderer and estray!
For friends are more than Arno's store
Of garnered charm, and he
Were blither with us here the night |
15 |
Than
Titian bids him be.
Throw
ope the window to the stars,
And let the warm night in!
Who knows what revelry in Mars
May rhyme with rouse akin?
|
20 |
Fill
up and drain the loving cup
And leave no drop to waste!
The moon looks in to see what's up—
Begad, she'd like a taste!
What
odds if Leinster's kingly roll
|
25 |
Be now
an idle thing?
The world is his who takes his toll,
A vagrant or a king.
What though the crown be melted down,
And the heir a gypsy roam? |
30 |
The
Kavanagh receives to-night!
McMurrough is at home!
We
three and the barley-bree!
And the moonlight on the floor!
Who were a man to do with less?
|
35 |
What
emperor has more?
Three stone jugs of Cruiskeen Lawn,
And three stout hearts to drain
A slanter to the truth in the heart of youth
And the joy of the love of men. |
40 |
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