Water of Life – An Ode to Drams & Nips

Whisky is of heart and soul, from subtle nose to mouth and lip
Knowledge speaks but wisdom listens tense, so I am silent as I sip.
Life divulged of drams and nips and all the arts of flavour,
has ne’er delivered such warming glow, or soothing peace nor pleasure.
To behold this roaring blended birth, of barley’s joy and pride,
succulent and sound of heart, both savoury and sweet inside.

The wistful sigh of lowland fields, the subtle sigh of malting,
blissfully bubbling tanks that flow, and swell with yeast-cream beers.
Fire rising from a copper dragon, breathing vapour steam,
cooled and calmed and soothed in tears, laid finally to rest,
amid the oaken wood at last, to breathe a sigh of years.

There is more to feel than simple sip, this savoury delight,
more revelling to make anew, deep within and thither.
To the bottle from the sowing, the yearning to the shiver,
a rare gift indeed, to share this wonder, with a waiting world,
taste whispers but how flavour roars and hearing it infuses us,
with yearning to explore unfurled.

What is life if not a chance to seize, the day with each instance
Water of life, the angel’s fare, will grant such joyful happenstance.
Whisky that you surely are, and all your incarnations be,
Blessed with the devoted praise of every worldly dram,
And one such humble soul as I, who basks in malt with glee
as often as I can indeed, perhaps it’s who I am…

Uisge Beatha, here’s to you, to me and all we’ll ever see,
together we will toast the day that Whiskey came to be…
Slainte!