Do not think to slip away
When the cup is passed your way.
Abstaining’s never been allowed,
Nor hiding in the raucous crowd.
Grasp it firm, repeat the toast,
Don’t cringe or, even worse, don’t boast.
Raise it high, drink it up.
None escape from grief’s deep cup.
The Toast
The Toast
By Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Prairie Schooner Vol. 74, No. 3 (Fall 2000), p. 81
Biography
Lynne Sharon Schwartz is the author of 23 books of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and translations from Italian. Her most recent book is a collection of essays, This Is Where We Came In. Her novels include Rough Strife (nominated for a National Book Award), Disturbances in the Field, The Writing on the Wall, and Leaving Brooklyn (nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction). She's also the author of the memoirs Ruined by Reading and Not Now, Voyager, and the poetry collection, See You in the Dark. She has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEA, and the NY State Foundation for the Arts, and her work has been widely reprinted in anthologies. She is on the faculty of the Bennington College Writing Seminars, an MFA program.