A Toast To Merriment

A Toast To Merriment - James W. Foley P.F. Vollard + Co. – Chicago - 1913

A Toast To Merriment

Make merry!
Though the day
Be gray,
Forget the clouds and
Let's be gay!
How short the days
We linger here:
A birth, a breath, and
Then — the bier!
Make merry, you and
I, for when
We part we may not
Meet again!

What tonic is
There in a
Frown?
You may go up and
I go down,
Or I go up and you —
Who knows
The way that either
Of us goes?
Make merry! Here's a
Laugh, for when
We part we may not
Meet again!

Make merry!
What of frets
And fears?
There is no happiness
In tears.
You tremble at the cloud,
And lo!'
Tis gone — and so 'tis
With our woe,
Full half of it but
Fancied ills.
Make merry! 'Tis the
Gloom that kills.

Make merry!
There is sun -
Shine yet;
The gloom that promised,
Let's forget.
The quip and jest are
On the wing,
Why sorrow when we
Ought to sing?
Refill the cup of joy,
For then
We part and may not
Meet again.

A smile, a
Jest, a joke —
Alas!
We come, we wonder,
And we pass.
The shadows fall, so
Long we rest
In graves, where is no
Quip or jest.
Good day! Good cheer!
Good-bye! For then
We part and may not
Meet again!