Put Round the Bright Wine

Ludwig van Beethoven (Bonn, Electorate of Cologne, Holy Roman Empire 1770-1827 Vienna, Austrian Empire)
(Thomas Allen, Elizabeth Layton, Ursula Smith, Malcolm Martineau)
Twelve Irish songs, for Voice, Violin, Cello, Piano, WoO 154, No. 6, Put Round the Bright Wine - 1813
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hreWH-DjLAY

Lyrics by William Smyth (Liverpool, Lancashire, England, Kingdom of Great Britain 1765-1849 Norwich, Norfolk, England, U.K.):

Put round the bright wine,
for my bosom is gay,
the night may have sunshine as well as the day.
Oh welcome the hours!
when dear visions arise to melt my kind spirit,
and charm my fond eyes.

When wine to my head can its wisdom impart,
and love has its promise to make to my heart;
when dim in far shade sink the spectres of care,
and I tread a bright world with a footstep of air.

Yes, mirth is my goddess,
come round me, ye few,
who have wit for her worship,
I doat upon you:
delighted with life,
like a swallow on wing,
I catch ev’ry pleasure the current may bring:
the feast and the frolic,
the masque and the ball,
dear scenes of enchantment!
I come at your call;
let me meet the gay beings of beauty and song,
and let Erin’s good humour be found in the throng.

If life be a dream,
‘tis a pleasant one sure,
and the dream of tonight we at least may secure.
If life be a bubble,
tho’ better I deem,
let us light up its colours by gaiety’s beam.
Away with cold vapours,
I pity the mind that nothing but dullness and darkness can find:
give me the kind spirit that laughs on its way,
and turns thorns into roses,
and winter to May.