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Song To Bacchus
by Thomas OldhamCome along, jolly Bacchus! no longer delay;
See'st thou not how the table with bottles is crown'd?
See'st thou not how thy votaries, impatient to pay
Their devotion to thee, are all waiting around?
O come then, propitious to our invocation,
To preside of thy rites at the solemnization.
Hark! the voice of Champagne, from its prison set free,
And the music of glasses that merrily ring,
Thy arrival announce, and invite us to glee;
With what gladness we welcome thee, vine-crowned King!
To honour thee, Bacchus! we pour a libation,
And the lofty roof echoes our loud salutation.
On that wine-loaded altar, erected to thee,
Sherry, burgundy, claret, invitingly shine;
While all thy rich gifts thus collected we see,
We greet thy munificence boundless, divine.
From these we already inhale animation,
Our hearts and heads warmth, and our souls elevation.
As thy nectar, kind Bacchus! more copiously flows,
We purge off the cold dregs that are earthy, profane;
Each breast with thy own godlike character glows;
There truth, generosity, happiness reign.
Hail Bacchus! we hail thee in high exultation;
Thou hast blest us, kind God! with thy full inspiration.