Living
Io, Bacchus!
From Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1889)
Omnes. Io, Bacchus! To thy table
Thou call'st every drunken rabble;
We already are stiff drinkers,
Then seal us for thy jolly skinkers.
1. Wine, O wine,
O juice divine,
How dost thou the nowle refine!
2. Plump thou mak'st men's ruby faces,
And from girls canst fetch embraces.
3. By thee our noses swell
With sparkling carbuncle.
4. O the dear blood of grapes
Turns us to antic shapes,
Now to show tricks like apes,
1. Now lion-like to roar,
2. Now goatishly to whore,
3. Now hoggishly i' th' mire,
4. Now flinging hats i' th' fire.
Omnes. Io, Bacchus! at thy table,
Make us of thy reeling rabble.
Cite this poem
MLA
Lyly, John. “Io, Bacchus!” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/lyly/10/.
Chicago
Lyly, John. “Io, Bacchus!” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/lyly/10/.
Read this poem with the Codex →