The Gift of Wine

First there was Demeter, goddess of the Earth;

She gave us grains to feed us and sustain us.

Then came Dionysus, who gave us wine.

He gave the pleasures of wine to rich

And poor alike, to release us all from pain;

He gave laughter to the flute,

And the losing of cares

In cool forgetting.

When we have no wine, nothing is left,

No love, no joy;

With wine comes sleep, and in our sleep

We forget the fret and fever of the day.

For we live only briefly.

Briefly…