The Cheat

The Cheat written by William Henry Davies

Nature Poems (1908)

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Yes, let the truth be heard,
   Bacchus, you rosy cheat:
That you do rob this world
   Of pictures and songs sweet;
You give men dreams, 'tis true,
But take their will to do.

You send them sleep as kings -
   They wake as trembling slaves;
Sent singing to their beds,
   They rise like ghosts from graves;
They drink to get will power -
Then wait a sober hour.

They shake, like leaves with stems
   Part broken on a tree;
As bees from flower to flower,
   Men go from spree to spree;
Until their days are run,
And not one sweet task done.

This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.