SEA SPRAY &> SMOKE DRIFT 



** Ho ! comrades, let us gaily dine — 

 This night with Plato we shall sup " ; 



And if they lean't upon a reed, 



And if their reed was slight and slim, 



There's something good in Spartan creed. 

 The lights are growing dim. 



Make merry, comrades, eat and drink, 



(The sunlight flashes on the sea) ; 

 My spirit is rejoiced to think 



That even as they were, so are we ; 

 For they, like us, were mortals vain, 



The slaves to earthly passions wild. 

 Who slept with heaps of Persians slain 



For winding-sheets around them piled. 

 The dead man's deeds are living still — 



My Festive speech is somewhat grim— 

 Their good obliterates their ill, 



The lights are growing dim. 



We eat and drink, we come and go, 

 (The sunlight dies upon the sea). 

 I speak in riddles. Is it so ? 



My riddles need not mar your glee ; 

 94 



