Famous Drunk Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Drunk poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous drunk poems. These examples illustrate what a famous drunk poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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If thou hast drunk wine every consecutive day of the

by Omar Khayyam
If thou hast drunk wine every consecutive day of the
week, take care not to deprive thyself of it on Wednesday,
for, according to our religion, there is no difference
between this day and Saturday. Be an adorer of the All-Powerful
and not an adorer of days.
304...Read more of this...

The Second Voyage

by Rudyard Kipling
 We've sent our little Cupids all ashore --
 They were frightened, they were tired, they were cold:
Our sails of silk and purple go to store,
 And we've cut away our mast of beaten gold
  (Foul weather!)
Oh 'tis hemp and singing pine for to stand against the brine,
 But Love he is our master as of old!

The sea has...Read more of this...

Before you are made drunk by the cup of death, before

by Omar Khayyam
Before you are made drunk by the cup of death, before
the revolutions of time are full behind you, endeavor
to make a foundation here below, for you will profit
nothing by going away empty-handed....Read more of this...

The Duel

by Robert William Service
 In Pat Mahoney's booze bazaar the fun was fast and free,
And Ragtime Billy spanked the baby grand;
While caroling a saucy song was Montreal Maree,
With sozzled sourdoughs giving her a hand.
When suddenly erupting in the gay and gilded hall,
A stranger draped himself upon the bar;
As in a voice like bedrock grit he hollered: "Drinks for all,"
And casually lit a long...Read more of this...

Sonnet 119: What potions have I drunk of Siren tears

by William Shakespeare
 What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,
Distilled from limbecks foul as hell within,
Applying fears to hopes, and hopes to fears,
Still losing when I saw my self to win!
What wretched errors hath my heart committed,
Whilst it hath thought it self so blessèd never!
How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted
In the distraction of this madding fever!
O, benefit...Read more of this...

Praying Drunk

by Andrew Hudgins
 Our Father who art in heaven, I am drunk.
Again. Red wine. For which I offer thanks.
I ought to start with praise, but praise
comes hard to me. I stutter. Did I tell you
about the woman, whom I taught, in bed,
this prayer? It starts with praise; the simple form
keeps things in order. I hear from her sometimes.
Do you? And after love,...Read more of this...

One Cigarette

by Edwin Morgan
 No smoke without you, my fire.
After you left,
your cigarette glowed on in my ashtray
and sent up a long thread of such quiet grey
I smiled to wonder who would believe its signal
of so much love. One cigarette
in the non-smoker's tray.
As the last spire
trembles up, a sudden draught
blows it winding into my face.
Is it smell, is it taste?
You are here again,...Read more of this...

Could Man Be Drunk Forever

by A E Housman
 Could man be drunk for ever 
With liquor, love, or fights, 
Lief should I rouse at morning 
And lief lie down of nights. 

But men at whiles are sober 
And think by fits and starts, 
And if they think, they fasten 
Their hands upon their hearts....Read more of this...

Drunk

by D. H. Lawrence
 Too far away, oh love, I know, 
To save me from this haunted road, 
Whose lofty roses break and blow 
On a night-sky bent with a load 

Of lights: each solitary rose, 
Each arc-lamp golden does expose 
Ghost beyond ghost of a blossom, shows 
Night blenched with a thousand snows. 

Of hawthorn and of lilac trees, 
White lilac; shows...Read more of this...

Many People Come to Visit and Bring Wine After I Fell Off My Horse, Drunk

by Du Fu
 Fu (this) duke old guest Finish wine drunk sing open gold halberd Ride horse suddenly remember youth time Scatter hoof pour fall Qutang stone Baidicheng gate water cloud outside Lower body straight down eight thousand feet Whitewashed battlements lightning pass purple loose reins East gain level ridge out heaven cliff River village country hall fight enter eye...Read more of this...

The Gardener XLII: O Mad Superbly Drunk

by Rabindranath Tagore
 O mad, superbly drunk;
If you kick open your doors and
play the fool in public;
If you empty your bag in a night, 
and snap your fingers at prudence;
If you walk in curious paths and
play with useless things;
Reck not rhyme or reason;
If unfurling your sails before the
storm you snap the rudder in two,
Then I will follow you, comrade,
and be drunken and...Read more of this...

As long as I am not drunk, my happiness is incomplete

by Omar Khayyam
As long as I am not drunk, my happiness is incomplete.
When I am overcome with wine, ignorance replaces
my reason. But there exists an intermediary state
between drunkenness and sound reason. Oh! with what
happiness do I enslave myself to such a state, since in it
there is life!...Read more of this...

Amidst the Flowers a Jug of Wine

by Li Po
 Amidst the flowers a jug of wine, 
I pour alone lacking companionship. 
So raising the cup I invite the Moon, 
Then turn to my shadow which makes three of us. 
Because the Moon does not know how to drink, 
My shadow merely follows the movement of my body. 
The moon has brought the shadow to keep me company a...Read more of this...

If I am drunk with old wine, ah, well! I am. If I am

by Omar Khayyam
If I am drunk with old wine, ah, well! I am. If I am
an infidel, fire worshipper or idolater, ah, well! that I am.
Each group of individuals forms some idea on my account.
But what matters it? I belong to myself and I
am what I am....Read more of this...

The Choral Union

by Siegfried Sassoon
 He staggered in from night and frost and fog 
And lampless streets: he’d guzzled like a hog 
And drunk till he was dazed. And now he came 
To hear—he couldn’t call to mind the name— 
But he’d been given a ticket for the show,
And thought he’d (hiccup) chance his luck and go. 

The hall swam in his eyes, and...Read more of this...

Came an old man from out the tavern drunk, his

by Omar Khayyam
Came an old man from out the tavern drunk, his
prayer-rug on his shoulders and a bowl of wine in
hand. I said to him: Aged man! what meaneth this?
He answered me: Drink wine, my friend, for this world
is naught but wind....Read more of this...

The Party

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Dey had a gread big pahty down to Tom's de othah night;
Was I dah? You bet! I nevah in my life see sich a sight;
All de folks f'om fou' plantations was invited, an' dey come,
Dey come troopin' thick ez chillun when dey hyeahs a fife an' drum.
Evahbody dressed deir fines'—Heish yo' mouf an' git away,
Ain't seen no sich fancy dressin'...Read more of this...

Get Drunk

by Charles Baudelaire
Always be drunk.
That's it!
The great imperative!
In order not to feel
Time's horrid fardel
bruise your shoulders,
grinding you into the earth,
get drunk and stay that way.
On what?
On wine, poetry, virtue, whatever.
But get drunk.
And if you sometimes happen to wake up
on the porches of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the dismal loneliness
of your own room,
your drunkenness gone or disappearing,
ask the wind,
the...Read more of this...

Wine should be drunk in the company of slender creatures

by Omar Khayyam
Wine should be drunk in the company of slender creatures
who ravish the heart with the color of their cheeks.
Art thou bitten by the serpent of grief, friend—drink, then,
of this antidote. I myself drink of it and plume myself
on the strength of it; would that it might be propitious!
If you drink it not, why not be willing that I should?
Go, eat...Read more of this...

The Tale of the Tiger-Tree

by Vachel Lindsay
 A Fantasy, dedicated to the little poet Alice Oliver Henderson, ten years old. 

The Fantasy shows how tiger-hearts are the cause of war in all ages. It shows how the mammoth forces may be either friends or enemies of the struggle for peace. It shows how the dream of peace is unconquerable and eternal.


I

Peace-of-the-Heart, my own for long,
Whose shining...Read more of this...

The Fall of Jock Gillespie

by Rudyard Kipling
 This fell when dinner-time was done --
 'Twixt the first an' the second rub --
That oor mon Jock cam' hame again
 To his rooms ahist the Club.

An' syne he laughed, an' syne he sang,
 An' syne we thocht him fou,
An' syne he trumped his partner's trick,
 An' garred his partner rue.

Then up and spake an elder mon,
 That held...Read more of this...

Yesterday, while passing drunk before an inn, I met an

by Omar Khayyam
Yesterday, while passing drunk before an inn, I met an
old man overcome with wine and carrying a gourd of
wine upon his back. I said to him: O aged man! have
you no fear of God? He answered me: Pity comes from
Him; go, drink some wine.
340...Read more of this...

Drunk As Drunk

by Pablo Neruda
 Drunk as drunk on turpentine
From your open kisses,
Your wet body wedged
Between my wet body and the strake
Of our boat that is made of flowers,
Feasted, we guide it - our fingers
Like tallows adorned with yellow metal -
Over the sky's hot rim,
The day's last breath in our sails.

Pinned by the sun between solstice
And equinox, drowsy and tangled together
We drifted for months...Read more of this...

The Song of the Brook

by Fannie Isabelle Sherrick
Oh, what would you have, you splendid sun,
  With your restless eyes of fire?
And why do you lean o'er the lilies pale?
  What more can your heart desire?
You've crimsoned the rays in the heart of the rose,
  You've drunk up the dewdrops all;
And down in the meadows your golden light
  Has gilded the daisies tall.
The thirsty...Read more of this...

Pauls Wife

by Robert Frost
 To drive Paul out of any lumber camp
All that was needed was to say to him,
"How is the wife, Paul?"--and he'd disappear.
Some said it was because be bad no wife,
And hated to be twitted on the subject;
Others because he'd come within a day
Or so of having one, and then been Jilted;
Others because he'd had one once, a good one,
Who'd...Read more of this...

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