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Home  »  library  »  poem  »  The Stirrup Cup

C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

The Stirrup Cup

By Sidney Lanier (1842–1881)

DEATH, thou’rt a cordial old and rare:

Look how compounded, with what care!

Time got his wrinkles reaping thee

Sweet herbs from all antiquity.

David to thy distillage went,

Keats, and Gotama excellent,

Omar Khayyám, and Chaucer bright,

And Shakespeare for a king-delight.

Then, Time, let not a drop be spilt;

Hand me the cup whene’er thou wilt:

’Tis thy rich stirrup cup to me;

I’ll drink it down right smilingly.