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Read more poems by Robert Service: Robert Service Poems at Poetry X.

I have no brief for gambling, nay
         The notion I express
That money earned 's the only way
         To pay for happiness.
With cards and dice I do not hold;
         By betting I've been bit:
Conclusion: to get honest gold
         You've got to sweat for it.
         
Though there be evil in strong drink
         It's brought me heaps of fun;
And now, with some reserve, I think
         My toping days are done.
Though at teetotal cranks I laugh,
         Yet being sound and hale,
I find the best of drinks to quaff
         Is good old Adam's ale.

I do not like your moralist,
         Who with a righteous grin
Informs you o'er a pounding fist:
         "Unchastity is sin."
I don't believe it, but I grant,
         By every human test,
From parson, pimp and maiden aunt,
         Morality is best.

Yet what a bore our lives would be
         If we lived as we should;
It's such a blessing to be free,
         And not be over-good.
I value virtues great and small,
         As I in life advance:
But O the greatest sin of all
         I count--INTOLERANCE.

Added: 25 Mar 2002 | Last Read: 22 Nov 2008 9:32 AM | Viewed: 2970 times

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