5 MARCH 1988, Page 34

The Wine and the Moon

`Oh!' cried the glass of Burgundy wine, • `0 Moon, thou horned cup divine That spillest from thy golden rim Thy pale inebriating light Like some soft sacramental hymn Upon the nightingale-loud night. .

The moon said, as it slipped away:

`I know! I know! Okay! Okay!'

Joachim Ringelnatz (1883-1934)

(translated from the German by David Cram)