Explore "The Bottle and the Bird" by Eugene Field on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Once on a time a friend of mine prevailed on me to go / To see the dazzling splendors of a sinful ballet show, / And after we had reveled in the saltatory sights / We sought a neighboring cafe for more tangible delights; / When I demanded of my friend what viands he preferred, / He quoth: "A large cold bottle and a small hot bird!"
Fool that I was, I did not know what anguish hidden lies / Within the morceau that allures the nostrils and the eyes! / There is a glorious candor in an honest quart of wine -- / A certain inspiration which I cannot well define! / How it bubbles, how it sparkles, how its gurgling seems to say: / "Come, on a tide of rapture let me float your soul away!"