Wine is a thing of boastful pride,
An ugly, naked, cowardly imp,
To strife and calumny allied,
A home to shelter thief and pimp.
Buy then &c.

Tho' families may wealthy be,
And countless treasures may enjoy,
Holding earth's richest gifts in fee,
This will their heritage destroy.
Buy then &c.

Silver and gold and household gear,
Oxen and fields and stores of grain--
All, all is lost: strong drink, I fear,
Has proved of wealthy home the bane.
Buy then &c.

[17] The man that drinks is filled with pride,
And his own parents will revile,
Or, ties of blood and kin defied,
Will dare the marriage bed defile.
Buy then &c.

She too that drinks will in her pride
Her husband and his sire revile,
And, dignity of race defied,
A slave to folly will beguile.
Buy then &c.

The man that drinks will dare to slay
A righteous priest or brahmin true,
And then in suffering worlds for aye
The sinful deed will have to rue.
Buy then &c.

Who drink will sin in triple wise,
In word, in action, and in thought,
Then sink to Hell, to agonize
For all the evil they have wrought.
Buy then &c.

The man from whom men beg in vain,
E'en at the cost of heaps of gold,
From him when drunk their point they gain
And readily the lie is told.
Buy then &c.

Should one that drinks a message bear
And lo! some great emergency
Should suddenly arise, he'll swear
The thing has slipped his memory.
Buy then &c.

E'en modest folk, intoxicate
With wine, will most indecent be,
And wisest men, when drunk, will prate
And babble very foolishly.
Buy then &c.

Thro' drink men, fasting, lie about,
The hard bare ground their resting place,
Huddled like swine, a shameless rout,
They undergo most foul disgrace.
Buy then &c.

Like oxen smitten to the ground
Collapsing, in a heap they lie;
[18] Such fire is in strong liquor found,
No power of man with it can vie.
Buy then &c.

When all men, as from deadly snake,
In terror from the poison shrink,
What hero bold enough to slake
His thirst from such a fatal drink?
Buy then &c.

'Twas after drinking this, I ween,
The Andhakas and Vrishni race,
Roaming along the shore, were seen
To fall, each by his kinsman's mace.
Buy then &c.

Angels infatuate with wine
Fell from eternal heaven, O king,
With all their magic power divine:
Then who would taste the accursed thing?
Buy then &c.