Page:Poems for the Sea.djvu/117

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INTEMPERANCE.


There's a cup that maketh sadness,
   Though of mirth it seems the friend;
To the brain it mounts in madness,
   And in folly hath its end.

'Neath its sway the sailor reeleth,
   Helpless, abject and forlorn;
All his good resolves it stealeth,
   Every duty bids him scorn;

Gives the land-sharks power to fleece him,
   All his hard-earned wages keep,