I taste a liquor never brewed
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poetry Page / English 9 / Dickinson page   

                I taste a liquor never brewed,
                From tankards scooped in pearl;
                Not all the vats upon the Rhine
                Yield such alcohol!

                Inebriate of air am I,
                And debauchee of dew,
                Reeling, through endless summer days,
                From inns of molten.

                When landlords turn the drunken bee
                Out of the foxglove's door,
                When butterflies renounce their drams,
                I shall but drink the more!

                Till seraphs swing their snowy hats,
                And saints  to windows run,
                To see the little tippler
                Leaning against the sun