Late to the fray, admittedly, but I submit this...
VERBAL INTOXICATION
I am drunk, but not with wine
In my head wild words entwine,
Callisthenics, dragon-fly,
Lanthorne, lapis lazuli,
Threnody of three times three
And sycamore, sycamore, sycamore tree.
Come for me, the Black Maria,
In some drunk-house I'll expire —
Sophocles, and Northern Fire,
Timbrel, tumbrill, lute and lyre,
I am mad, though not in wits,
Horoscope and Horowitz,
Dungeons, danger, Dungeness,
Fortunatus and largesse,
Hail, horizons, honey-bee,
And sycamore, sycamore, sycamore tree.
My mouth's full, but not with brandy,
Riotous and rope and randy
And the lane to Tonypandy,
Lullabies and macaroons,
Nincompoops and nightmare noons,
Neptune, Noah, and old Tom Noddy
Rive the heart from out the body
Swim the sense in hyssop Tea,
And blackamoor, sycamore, syllabub Sea.
1948
By Priscilla Napier, from “Coming Home from Sea”
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