Another Pint Of Porter Please

I’ll have another pint of porter please

As I’m on holiday I’ll continue the holiday mood with another Ballade, this time in praise of plain honest Porter, and therefore also a praise of English Village Inns. As usual you can hear me read the poem by clicking on the ‘play’ button or the title.

I’ll have another pint of porter please

 

‘Be careful what you wish for, so they say,

For you may get more than you bargained for,

Things seem ‘free heaven’ but there’s hell to pay,

‘The plays the thing’, beware of the encore,

Too much of a good thing, the thirst for more,

Can trip you up or bring you to your knees.’

It’s good advice I’m choosing to ignore

I’ll have another pint of porter please

 

Some rich men seem to drink champagne all day

It’s all on credit, they don’t keep the score

They drink red wines from Beaune to Beaujolais

Some of them talk of terroir, what a bore,

Or tell me that some vintage has a flaw,

I can’t keep spending with the likes of these,

My landlord has some better stuff to pour,

I’ll have another pint of porter please.

 

I love the mullioned snug, the brewers dray

And all the tapster’s tacit craft and lore.

To reach a village inn when skies are grey,

To step out of the rain and through the door,

To feel the warmth, to tread the stone-flagged floor,

And sit beside the fire and take our ease,

This is the bliss our little life is for,

I’ll have another pint of porter please

 

Prince, there’s an inn that you have kept in store,

And given to St. Peter both it’s keys,

I’m on my way, but tell him, well before,

I’ll have another pint of porter please.