Explore "Some Verses: Sonnets: WATER AND WINE" by Helen Hay Whitney on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I asked for water and they brought me wine; / Wine in a jewelled chalice, where the gold / Gleamed thro' the purple beads, as if unrolled -- / One saw the sun-rays of a life-time shine.
So drinking, I forgot my dream divine / Of crystal purity, for in my hold / Were wealth and Fame and Passions manifold / Which with the draught I fancied might be mine.
"Ah, Youth," I said, "Ah, Faith and Love!" I said; / "These are but broken lances in the strife! / What shall remain when all these things are sped?" / Then crashed the dream. I clutched the hand of Fate / Amid the ruins of my shattered life, / And found the Gods had cheated, all too late.