Placid Pug, and Other Rhymes — Song for Vintners

Were it not for the Belgian hare.

= SONG FOR VINTNERS

|THE Lion laps the limpid lake, `The Pard refuses wine, The sinuous Lizard and the Snake, `The petulant Porcupine, Agree in this, their thirst to quench Only with Nature's natural "drench."

= In vain with beer you tempt the Deer, `Or lure the Marmozet;

The early morning Chanticleer, `The painted Parroquet, Alike, on claret and champagne Gaze with unfaltering disdain.

= No ale or spirit tempts the Ferret, `No juice of grape the Toad.

[Illustration: 022] In vain towards the "Harp and Merit" `The patient Ox you goad;

Not his in rapture to extol The praises of the flowing bowl.

= The silent Spider laughs at cider, `The Horse despises port;

The Crocodile (whose mouth is wider `Than any other sort) Prefers the waters of the Nile To any of a stronger style.

= The Rabbit knows no "private bar," `The Pelican will wander Through arid plains of Kandahar, `Nor ever pause to ponder Whether in that infernal clime The clocks converge to "closing time."

= True "bona-fide traveller" `Urging no sophist plea, How terrible must seem to her `Man's inebriety;

She who in thirsty moments places Her simple trust in green oases.

= With what calm scorn the Unicorn, `In his remote retreat, Must contemplate the fervour born `Of old "Ch√Ęteau Lafitte."

Conceive the feelings of the Sphinx Confronted with Columbian drinks!

= And oh!

if all this solemn truth `Were dinned into its mind From earliest years, might not our youth `Regenerate mankind, Aspire to climb the Heights, and dare To emulate the Belgian hare?

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