Christmas knows a merry, merry place,
Where he goes with fondest face,
Brightest eye, brightest hair:
Tell the Mermaid where is that one place,
Where?
Raleigh. 'Tis by Devon's glorious halls,
Whence, dear Ben, I come again:
Bright of golden roofs and walls-
El Dorado's rare domain-
Seem those halls when sunlight launches
Shafts of gold thro' leafless branches,
Where the winter's feathery mantle blanches
Field and farm and lane.
CHORUS. Christmas knows a merry, merry place, &c.
Drayton. 'Tis where Avon's wood-sprites weave
Through the boughs a lace of rime,
While the bells of Christmas Eve
Fling for Will the Stratford-chime
O'er the river-flags emboss'd
Rich with flowery runes of frost-
O'er the meads where snowy tufts are toss'd-
Strains of olden time.
CHORUS. Christmas knows a merry, merry place, &c.
Shakespeare's Friend. 'Tis, methinks, on any ground
Where our Shakespeare's feet are set.
There smiles Christmas, holly-crown'd
With his blithest coronet:
Friendship's face he loveth well:
'Tis a countenance whose spell
Sheds a balm o'er every mead and dell
Where we used to fret.
CHORUS. Christmas knows a merry, merry place, &c.
Heywood. More than all the pictures, Ben,
Winter weaves by wood or stream,
Christmas loves our London, when
Rise thy clouds of wassail-steam-
Clouds like these, that, curling, take
Forms of faces gone, and wake
Many a lay from lips we loved, and make
London like a dream.
CHORUS. Christmas knows a merry, merry place, &c.
Ben Jonson. Love's old songs shall never die,
Yet the new shall suffer proof:
Love's old drink of Yule brew I
Wassail for new love's behoof.
Drink the drink I brew, and sing
Till the berried branches swing,
Till our song make all the Mermaid ring-
Yea, from rush to roof.
FINALE. Christmas loves this merry, merry place;
Christmas saith with fondest face,
Brightest eye, brightest hair:
'Ben, the drink tastes rare of sack and mace:
Rare!'
Wassail Chorus At The Mermaid Tavern
Theodore Watts-dunton
(1)
Poem topics: dream, friend, never, river, song, time, dear, crown, field, rise, frost, bright, roof, gold, golden, sunlight, stream, hair, london, winter, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Previous Poem
Next Poem
Write your comment about Wassail Chorus At The Mermaid Tavern poem by Theodore Watts-dunton
Best Poems of Theodore Watts-dunton