Jonson Variation: A Toast to You
Drink to me only with your eyes
and my intoxication shall be wise.
I will not stagger, nor regret
a surfeit of caroused duet.
Let us quaff a mellow kiss
and I’ll be worthy, I promise.
I will not reel, inebriate,
as spirits roister, tête-à-tête.
I shall laud, with verse, with mirth,
your honor, health and day of birth.
Should you wish another toast,
I’ll festinate a fain riposte.
’Tis not the juice I seek in sips,
’tis the allusion of your lips
that I homage, raising a glass
which is the spouse of yours, dear lass.
Craig Kurtz resides at Twin Oaks Intentional Community where he writes poetry while simultaneously surviving the dream. Recent work has appeared in Aerie Literary Journal, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, Burningword Literary Journal, Conclave: A Journal of Character, Danse Macabre, Drunk Monkeys, Maudlin House, The Penmen Review, Poetry Quarterly, Sediments Literary-Arts Journal, Teeth Dreams, Veil: A Journal of Darker Musings and Zouch Magazine.