College Mirth

WHERE was despair a swift and careless joke,
And where was melancholy sweet and green?
Where was remorse a thin and lovely smoke,
And where was sin still insolent and keen?

Where was the crabbed chance a playing child,
And indolence the aim of death and birth,
And where was drunkenness still bright and wild,
And where was everything the food of mirth?

There in the college all these things were so —
The throat of thirsty mirth drank our despair,
A gorgeous wine which made our senses glow
So that derisive laughter echoed there.

And even now, with thin and clarion strains,
That laughter sweeps across our pompous brains.