Leonora Speyer’s speaker imagines drinking not as a low, greedy act but as something exalted and shared between two lovers. While others sink their faces to the cup or lap at spilled drops like thirsty herds, the couple lifts their heads high, like birds. The gesture is proud and almost defiant: they refuse the crowded, desperate way of drinking and instead drink from the sun’s brim as it tips toward their laughing lips. The poem creates a mood of bright, joyful intimacy—part love poem, part toast. There is a sense of elevation, both physical and emotional, as if love lets them rise above the ordinary, animal need of the crowd. The repeated “Up, up” and the echo of “will drink—will drink!” give it a chant-like, exultant rhythm, like voices raised together in celebration.
Drinking-Song — Summary
We lift our heads to drink, Beloved, you and I ! Let others sink Their faces to the cup. Or bending lower still. In thirsty herds, Lap at the drops we spill! But you and I, Like birds, Scorning the crowded brink. Up, up. Heads lifted to the sky, From the sun's brim that tips To meet the laughing splendor of our lips, Will drink — will drink!