Wine, Water and Song

<h2><SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_15" title="15"> </SPAN>The Song Against Grocers</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line"><span class="upper-case">God</span> made the wicked Grocer<br/></div> <div class="line">For a mystery and a sign,<br/></div> <div class="line">That men might shun the awful shops<br/></div> <div class="line">And go to inns to dine;<br/></div> <div class="line">Where the bacon's on the rafter<br/></div> <div class="line">And the wine is in the wood,<br/></div> <div class="line">And God that made good laughter<br/></div> <div class="line">Has seen that they are good.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_16" title="16"> </SPAN><div class="line">The evil-hearted Grocer<br/></div> <div class="line">Would call his mother &ldquo;Ma'am,&rdquo;<br/></div> <div class="line">And bow at her and bob at her,<br/></div> <div class="line">Her aged soul to damn,<br/></div> <div class="line">And rub his horrid hands and ask<br/></div> <div class="line">What article was next,<br/></div> <div class="line">Though <b><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">mortis in articulo</i></b><br/></div> <div class="line">Should be her proper text.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="line">His props are not his children,<br/></div> <div class="line">But pert lads underpaid,<br/></div> <div class="line">Who call out &ldquo;Cash!&rdquo; and bang about<br/></div> <div class="line">To work his wicked trade;<br/></div> <div class="line">He keeps a lady in a cage<br/></div> <div class="line">Most cruelly all day,<br/></div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_17" title="17"> </SPAN><div class="line">And makes her count and calls her &ldquo;Miss&rdquo;<br/></div> <div class="line">Until she fades away.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="line">The righteous minds of innkeepers<br/></div> <div class="line">Induce them now and then<br/></div> <div class="line">To crack a bottle with a friend<br/></div> <div class="line">Or treat unmoneyed men,<br/></div> <div class="line">But who hath seen the Grocer<br/></div> <div class="line">Treat housemaids to his teas<br/></div> <div class="line">Or crack a bottle of fish-sauce<br/></div> <div class="line">Or stand a man a cheese?<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="line">He sells us sands of Araby<br/></div> <div class="line">As sugar for cash down;<br/></div> <div class="line">He sweeps his shop and sells the dust<br/></div> <div class="line">The purest salt in town,<br/></div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_18" title="18"> </SPAN><div class="line">He crams with cans of poisoned meat<br/></div> <div class="line">Poor subjects of the King,<br/></div> <div class="line">And when they die by thousands<br/></div> <div class="line">Why, he laughs like anything.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="line">The wicked Grocer groces<br/></div> <div class="line">In spirits and in wine,<br/></div> <div class="line">Not frankly and in fellowship<br/></div> <div class="line">As men in inns do dine;<br/></div> <div class="line">But packed with soap and sardines<br/></div> <div class="line">And carried off by grooms,<br/></div> <div class="line">For to be snatched by Duchesses<br/></div> <div class="line">And drunk in dressing-rooms.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="line">The hell-instructed Grocer<br/></div> <div class="line">Has a temple made of tin,<br/></div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_19" title="19"> </SPAN><div class="line">And the ruin of good innkeepers<br/></div> <div class="line">Is loudly urged therein;<br/></div> <div class="line">But now the sands are running out<br/></div> <div class="line">From sugar of a sort,<br/></div> <div class="line">The Grocer trembles; for his time,<br/></div> <div class="line">Just like his weight, is short.<br/></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />