Spring
	93 Indeed the Idols I have loved so long Have done my credit in Men's eye much wrong: Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup, And sold my Reputation for a Song. 94 Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before I swore---but was I sober when I swore? And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 95 And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour---Well, I wonder often what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the stuff they sell. previous              next
Vedder's note: It is useless and even pernicious, if one wishes to combat the seductiveness of the pleasures of the senses, utterly to ignore them. They exist as much as man's other faculties, and have their proper uses and place. Examine and dissect them, and one will be enabled to give them their proper weight. This is the aim of the poet against an overwhelming pressure in the other direction leading only to hypocrisy, a thing which Omar most of all detests.