April Twilights and Other Poems

<h3><SPAN name="THE_TAVERN" id="THE_TAVERN"></SPAN>THE TAVERN</h3> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0"><span class="letra">I</span>n the tavern of my heart<br/></span> <span class="i2">Many a one has sat before,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Drunk red wine and sung a stave,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And, departing, come no more.<br/></span> <span class="i0">When the night was cold without,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And the ravens croaked of storm,<br/></span> <span class="i0">They have sat them at my hearth,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Telling me my house was warm.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">As the lute and cup went round,<br/></span> <span class="i2">They have rhymed me well in lay;&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">When the hunt was on at morn,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Each, departing, went his way.<br/></span> <span class="i0">On the walls, in compliment,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Some would scrawl a verse or two,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Some have hung a willow branch,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Or a wreath of corn-flowers blue.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Ah! my friend, when thou dost go,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Leave no wreath of flowers for me;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Not pale daffodils nor rue,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Violets nor rosemary.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Spill the wine upon the lamps,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Tread the fire, and bar the door;<br/></span> <span class="i0">So despoil the wretched place,<br/></span> <span class="i2">None will come forevermore.<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</SPAN></span></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />