Cheer my soaking mood

Managed to catch the last day of the John Byrne exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery earlier this afternoon ... really rather wonderful.

This shot is of the poster outside the main entrance.

Just cannot find a poem directly related to the John Byrne I'm afraid - so, here's a (very!) tenuously linked one ...

... John [Byrne Leicester] Warren, was a 19th Century English poet, who published the following verse about the dithyramb; which was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honour of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility ;-)

Bit of an antidote to the verse chosen over the last, two days!


Dithyramb

Sunbright ale is royal food,
Jarring cups disloyal feud.
I will cheer my soaking mood
Till the orchards reel.

Brews good ale is no dispraise
To our green or grizzled days;
He who sets his cheek in wine
Vassals not despair.

He who sets his lips in ale
Keeps his legs where many fail,
Takes his fortunes at their best
Foul or fickle-fair.

Merry sets his mellow life,
Who, when rusty shocks are rife,
Whistles off his weary load
Wearing to each year.

Sours he not with friendship's treason,
Or some sweet love strange in season,
Ripe in manhood, ripe in heart,
Whole and sound and clear.

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John Byrne Leicester Warren (1835 – 1895)

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