Oh! my friend, when you feel bursting on your lips the vow of eternal love, do not be afraid to yield, but do not confound wine with intoxication; do not think the cup divine because the draft is of celestial flavor; do not be astonished to find it broken and empty in the evening.

The speaker counsels emotional honesty tempered by clear-eyed restraint. When love surges and one is tempted to swear “eternal” devotion, Musset urges yielding to feeling without mistaking the heightened state for a guarantee of permanence. The metaphor distinguishes wine (love’s genuine pleasure) from intoxication (the self-deceiving rapture that overreads the moment). The “divine cup” suggests idealization: because the first draught tastes “celestial,” one imagines the vessel itself sacred and unbreakable. The closing image—an empty, broken cup by evening—warns how quickly passion can dissipate, leaving disillusionment if one confuses intensity with durability.