IN PRAISE OF WATER-DRINKING

(After Duncan Ban McIntyre)

Wild Wine of Nature, honey tasted,
Ever streaming, never wasted,
From long and long and long ago
In limpid, cool, life-giving flow
Up-bubbling with its cordial bland
Even from the thirsty desert sand—
O draught to quench man's thirst upon
Far sweeter than the cinnamon!
Like babes upon their mother's breast,
To Earth our craving lips are pressed
For her free gift of matchless price,
Pure as it poured in Paradise.

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