CATAWBA WINE
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This song of mine
Is a Song of the Vine,
To be sung by the glowing embers
Of wayside inns,
When the rain begins
To darken the drear Novembers.

It is not a song
Of the Scuppernong,
From warm Carolinian valleys,
Nor the Isabel
And the Muscadel
That bask in our garden alleys.

Nor the red Mustang,
Whose clusters hang
O'er the waves of the Colorado,
And the fiery flood
Of whose purple blood
Has a dash of Spanish bravado.

For richest and best
Is the wine of the West,
That grows by the Beautiful River;
Whose sweet perfume
Fills all the room
With a benison on the giver.

And as hollow trees
Are the haunts of bees,
For ever going and coming;
So this crystal hive
Is all alive
With a swarming and buzzing and humming.

Very good in its way
Is the Verzenay,
Or the Sillery soft and creamy;
But Catawba wine
Has a taste more divine,
More dulcet, delicious, and dreamy.

There grows no vine
By the haunted Rhine,
By Danube or Guadalquivir,
Nor on island or cape,
That bears such a grape
As grows by the Beautiful River.

Drugged is their juice
For foreign use,
When shipped o'er the reeling Atlantic,
To rack our brains
With the fever pains,
That have driven the Old World frantic.

To the sewers and sinks
With all such drinks,
And after them tumble the mixer;
For a poison malign
Is such Borgia wine,
Or at best but a Devil's Elixir.

While pure as a spring
Is the wine I sing,
And to praise it, one needs but name it;
For Catawba wine
Has need of no sign,
No tavern-bush to proclaim it.

And this Song of the Vine,
This greeting of mine,
The winds and the birds shall deliver
To the Queen of the West,
In her garlands dressed,
On the banks of the Beautiful River.
--
JM

On Jun 27, 5:56*pm, Just Me > wrote:


> Do I hear you
> chortle and snort in the ignorance of your conceit? *

Now see here, Jerv. I actually got *this* far.

On Jun 27, 6:56*pm, Just Me > wrote:
> Do I hear you
> chortle and snort in the ignorance of your conceit? *See here . . .

Pish. I like Egervin Egri Bikavér, which is just as cheap.

On 6/27/2009 5:56 PM, Just Me wrote:
> After planting some Catawba vines here on my 20 acres in SW Missouri,

You silly old dickhead. Who gives a **** what you do or think?

SW Missouri, home of the methlab, the fundamentalist conman and jerkis
the hasbeen, is just the place for you; but don't let them know what a
fey old fart you are.

FTP

On Jun 28, 12:15*am, Just Me > wrote:
> On Jun 27, 6:44*pm, Stratum101 > wrote:
>
> > On Jun 27, 5:56*pm, Just Me > wrote:
>
> > > Do I hear you
> > > chortle and snort in the ignorance of your conceit? *
>
> > Now see here, Jerv. *I actually got *this* far.
>
> Oh, dear. *Well, try to visualize "ignorance" as just another synonym
> for "wisdom" and you ought to be able to get along just fine.

Look, I was in awe of purple pimples on your palette
and I think *I* am due credit for recognizing your immense
talent. Anyone can kiss ass, but it is the rare
man who can touch his own butt with his tongue.

On 6/28/2009 2:17 PM, Just Me wrote:
> On Jun 28, 1:07 am, > wrote:
>> On 6/27/2009 5:56 PM, Just Me wrote:
>>
>>> After planting some Catawba vines here on my 20 acres in SW Missouri,
>> You silly old dickhead. Who gives a **** what you do or think?
>>
>> SW Missouri, home of the methlab, the fundamentalist conman and jerkis
>> the hasbeen, is just the place for you; but don't let them know what a
>> fey old fart you are.
>>
>> FTP
>
> There it is, sure as road-kill, ants at the picnic, the Video
> Professor and Erectile Dysfunction.
>
> But that shapeless, formless mass must have it's say, sure as every
> Mexican hairless chihuahua has it's day.
>
> So now let us see, where were we before the hippy-hoppy boom boxes
> drove up in hotrod Hondas gassed and lubed on biofuel of saved up
> pimple juice? Ah, yes. Here it is in it's lately revised, more souped
> up, super-charged and fuel injected edition . . .

You're an embarrassment to an entire generation, jerkis. Run on up to
Hornet, wait until dark and then move toward the light.

FTP

On Jun 28, 2:17*pm, Just Me > wrote:



> There it is, sure as road-kill, ants at the picnic, the Video
> Professor and Erectile Dysfunction.
>
> But that shapeless, formless mass must have it's say, sure as every
> Mexican hairless chihuahua has it's day.

You'll have to admit the man does like his apostrophes.

On 6/29/2009 10:56 PM, Stratum101 wrote:
> On Jun 28, 2:17 pm, Just > wrote:
>
>
>
>> There it is, sure as road-kill, ants at the picnic, the Video
>> Professor and Erectile Dysfunction.
>>
>> But that shapeless, formless mass must have it's say, sure as every
>> Mexican hairless chihuahua has it's day.
>
> You'll have to admit the man does like his apostrophes.
>

That went right over the old fart's head. It's typical.

FTP

On Jun 30, 12:15*am, Just Me > wrote:
> On Jun 29, 10:56 pm, Stratum101 > wrote:
>
> > On Jun 28, 2:17 pm, Just Me > wrote:
>
> > > There it is, sure as road-kill, ants at the picnic, the Video
> > > Professor and Erectile Dysfunction.
>
> > > But that shapeless, formless mass must have it's say, sure as every
> > > Mexican hairless chihuahua has it's day.
>
> > You'll have to admit the man does like his apostrophes.
>
> Presuming that one would not know the difference between the
> possessive "its" and the contractive "it's"? *Is that your
> presumption?

Well, yes actually.

> [long rant]