Wine, Water and Song

<h2><SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_60" title="60"> </SPAN>The Song of Right and Wrong</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line"><span class="upper-case">Feast</span> on wine or fast on water,<br/></div> <div class="line">And your honour shall stand sure,<br/></div> <div class="line">God Almighty's son and daughter<br/></div> <div class="line">He the valiant, she the pure;<br/></div> <div class="line">If an angel out of heaven<br/></div> <div class="line">Brings you other things to drink,<br/></div> <div class="line">Thank him for his kind attentions,<br/></div> <div class="line">Go and pour them down the sink.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_61" title="61"> </SPAN><div class="line">Tea is like the East he grows in,<br/></div> <div class="line">A great yellow Mandarin<br/></div> <div class="line">With urbanity of manner<br/></div> <div class="line">And unconsciousness of sin;<br/></div> <div class="line">All the women, like a harem,<br/></div> <div class="line">At his pig-tail troop along;<br/></div> <div class="line">And, like all the East he grows in,<br/></div> <div class="line">He is Poison when he's strong.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Tea, although an Oriental,<br/></div> <div class="line">Is a gentleman at least;<br/></div> <div class="line">Cocoa is a cad and coward,<br/></div> <div class="line">Cocoa is a vulgar beast,<br/></div> <div class="line">Cocoa is a dull, disloyal,<br/></div> <div class="line">Lying, crawling cad and clown,<br/></div> <div class="line">And may very well be grateful<br/></div> <div class="line">To the fool that takes him down.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_62" title="62"> </SPAN><div class="line">As for all the windy waters,<br/></div> <div class="line">They were rained like tempests down<br/></div> <div class="line">When good drink had been dishonoured<br/></div> <div class="line">By the tipplers of the town;<br/></div> <div class="line">When red wine had brought red ruin<br/></div> <div class="line">And the death-dance of our times,<br/></div> <div class="line">Heaven sent us Soda Water<br/></div> <div class="line">As a torment for our crimes.<br/></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />