'O Taste and See' by Dannie Abse



Oh Taste and See

 Because of a kiss on the forehead
in the long Night's infirmary,
through the red wine let light shine deep.

 Because of the thirtysix just men
that so stealthily roam this earth
raise high the glass and do not weep.

 Who says the world is not a wedding?
Couples, in their oases, lullabye.
Let glass be full before they sleep.

 Toast all that seems to vanish
like a rainbow stared at, those bright 
truant things that will not keep;

 and ignorance of the last night
of our lives, its famished breathing.
Then, in the red wine, taste the light.






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