SICILIAN WINE - by Bayard Taylor

SICILIAN  WINE  by  Bayard Taylor I’ve drunk Sicilia’s crimson wine! The blazing vintage pressed From grapes on Etna’s breast, What time the mellowing autumn sun did shine: I‘ve drunk the wine! I feel its blood divine Poured on the sluggish tide of mine, Till, kindling slow, Its fountains glow With the light that swims On their trembling brims, And a molten sunrise floods my limbs!  Divine Apollo! Then thou thy lute shalt twine With Bacchic tendrils of the glorious vine That gave Sicilian wine: And henceforth when the breezes run Over its clusters, ripening in the sun, The leaves shall still be playing, Unto thy lute its melody repaying, And I, that quaff, shall evermore be free To mount thy car and ride the heavens with thee!