Living

Io, Bacchus!

by John Lyly 1554–1600

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

Living

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.

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/.

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