That secret wheel of Heaven has slain a thousand monarchs
And a thousand favorites; drink your wine, then,
For it gives back life to none. Alas! No one of those
that quit this world will ever come back to it.
Lit.
All those who in their graves unheeded lie
Were just as pompous once as You and I,
Complacent spake their little arrogant names,
And wagged their heads, and never thought to die.
Le Gallienne
Sometimes as, cup in hand among the flowers,
I think on all my witty wasted hours,
I see that wine has been a fable too,
Yes! Even wine – so false a world is ours.
Le Gallienne
Yet were it vain some other way to try,
Of all our lying wine is least a lie,
All earthly roads wind nowhere in the end, -
What matters then the road we travel by?
Le Gallienne