XXXV.

Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn; And Lip to Lip it murmur'd--«While you live, «Drink!--for, once dead, you never shall return.»

This quatrain is translated from O. 100:

In great desire I pressed my lips to the lip of the jar, To enquire from it how long life might be attained; It joined its lip to mine and whispered, «Drink wine! for to this world thou returnest not.»

_Ref._: O. 100, C. 283, L. 446, B. 442, P. 99, B. ii. 303, T. 185, P. v. 193.--W. 274, E.C. 25, V. 482.

C. 489 is a mystic and doctrinal quatrain containing the same injunction.

Drink wine! for I have told you a thousand times There is no returning for you; when you are gone, you are _gone_!

_Ref._: C. 489, L. 723, B. 712, S.P. 385, B. ii. 526, P. iv. 67, P. v. 104--W. 431, N. 389, V. 775.