Read "The Last of May" by William Makepeace Thackeray online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
(IN REPLY TO AN INVITATION DATED ON THE 1ST.)
By fate's benevolent award, / Should I survive the day, / I'll drink a bumper with my lord / Upon the last of May.
That I may reach that happy time / The kindly gods I pray, / For are not ducks and pease in prime / Upon the last of May?
At thirty boards, 'twixt now and then, / My knife and fork shall play; / But better wine and better men / I shall not meet in May.
And though, good friend, with whom I dine, / Your honest head is gray, / And, like this grizzled head of mine, / Has seen its last of May;
Yet, with a heart that's ever kind, / A gentle spirit gay, / You've spring perennial in your mind, / And round you make a May!