Living

Cast Away Care!

by Thomas Dekker d. 1638?

From Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1889)

Living

Cast away care! he that loves sorrow
Lengthens not a day, nor can buy to-morrow;
Money is trash; and he that will spend it,
Let him drink merrily, Fortune will send it.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, oh, ho!
Play it off stiffly, we may not part so.

Wine is a charm, it heats the blood too,
Cowards it will arm, if the wine be good too;
Quickens the wit, and makes the back able,
Scorns to submit to the watch or constable.
Merrily, &c.

Pots fly about, give us more liquor,
Brothers of a rout, our brains will flow quicker;
Empty the cask; score up, we care not;
Fill all the pots again; drink on and spare not.

Merrily, &c.

✦ ✦ ✦

From The Sun's Darling, by John Ford and Thomas Dekker.

MLA

Dekker, Thomas. “Cast Away Care!” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/dekker/9/.

Chicago

Dekker, Thomas. “Cast Away Care!” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/dekker/9/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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