The House of Life: 71. The Choice, I

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Eat thou and drink; to-morrow thou shalt die.
 Surely the earth, that's wise being very old,
 Needs not our help. Then loose me, love, and hold
Thy sultry hair up from my face; that I
May pour for thee this golden wine, brim-high,
 Till round the glass thy fingers glow like gold.
 We'll drown all hours: thy song, while hours are toll'd,
Shall leap, as fountains veil the changing sky.

Now kiss, and think that there are really those,
 My own high-bosom'd beauty, who increase
  Vain gold, vain lore, and yet might choose our way!
  Through many years they toil; then on a day
 They die not,—for their life was death,—but cease;
And round their narrow lips the mould falls close.

© Dante Gabriel Rossetti