A Rémy Belleau
What the bloody Turk’s up to,
What the Reds and Generals do,
Who’s been blown up, or who chucked out,
I’d rather not be told about.
My concern is to get by
And, if I can, luxuriously,
Self-pampered-and-perfumed, old friend,
To the unluxurious end.
My park-gate’s locked, and town house door.
I’m not subscribing any more.
To mark this care-drowning decision,
Rémy, I plan to commission
Some good craftsman to beat all
And every other drinking vessel –
Something capacious, to surpass
Robert Walpole’s claret glass
Or old King Nestor’s mighty cup
That Dr Blegen has dug up;
And, to dignify our bottle,
Beaten out of precious metal.
Engraved, – but not, as some cups are,
With so-called circumstance of war,
Plumes, lancets, helmets, and so on;
Civilized Anacreon
Hated, when the cork was out,
To have war even talked about:
Nor with planetary signs,
Zodiac, rays, and squares, and trines,
That nod one to Eternity
Which I’m in no great rush to see.
Instead, as you may well suppose,
My cup will show the Vine and Rose
Entwined and inter-operative
Through this life I love to live:
Will show the heavy trellises
Vintage-ready for the press;
Will harvest-naked Venus show,
Like the nymph of Fontainebleau;
And (drawn with proper grace, no doubt)
Some happy toper who’s passed out.
Translated by Michael Riviere
Page(s) 76-77
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