Start not – nor deem my spirit fled;
\nIn me behold the only skull
\nFrom which, unlike a living head,
\nWhatever flows is never dull.<\/p>\n
I lived, I loved, I quaffed, like thee:
\nI died: let earth my bones resign;
\nFill up – thou canst not injure me;
\nThe worm hath fouler lips than thine.<\/p>\n
Better to hold the sparkling grape,
\nThan nurse the earth-worm’s slimy
\nbrood;
\nAnd circle in the goblet’s shape
\nThe drink of gods, than reptile’s food.<\/p>\n
Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone,
\nIn aid of others’ let me shine;
\nAnd when, alas! our brains are gone,
\nWhat nobler substitute than wine?<\/p>\n
Quaff while thou canst: another race,
\nWhen thou and thine, like me, are sped,
\nMay rescue thee from earth’s embrace,
\nAnd rhyme and revel with the dead.<\/p>\n
Why not? since through life’s little day
\nOur heads such sad effects produce;
\nRedeemed from worms and wasting clay,
\nThis chance is theirs, to be of use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1808 Poem Start not – nor deem my spirit fled; In me behold the only skull From which, unlike a living head, Whatever flows is never dull. I lived, I loved, I quaffed, like thee: I died: let earth my bones resign; Fill up – thou canst not injure me; The worm hath fouler lips […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}