William Butler Yeats (Уильям Батлер Йейтс)

A Drunken Man’s Praise Of Sobriety

COME swish around, my pretty punk,
And keep me dancing still
That I may stay a sober man
Although I drink my fill.

Sobriety is a jewel
That I do much adore;
And therefore keep me dancing
Though drunkards lie and snore.
O mind your feet, O mind your feet,
Keep dancing like a wave,
And under every dancer
A dead man in his grave.
No ups and downs, my pretty,
A mermaid, not a punk;
A drunkard is a dead man,
And all dead men are drunk. 

William Butler Yeats’s other poems:

  1. In Memory of Alfred Pollexfen
  2. Under Ben Bulben
  3. To Be Carved on a Stone at Ballylee
  4. The Municipal Gallery Revisited
  5. Maid Quiet

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