Wine, Water and Song

<h2><SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_57" title="57"> </SPAN>The Song of the Strange Ascetic</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line"><span class="upper-case">If</span> I had been a Heathen,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">I'd have praised the purple vine,<br/></div> <div class="line">My slaves should dig the vineyards,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">And I would drink the wine;<br/></div> <div class="line">But Higgins is a Heathen,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">And his slaves grow lean and grey,<br/></div> <div class="line">That he may drink some tepid milk<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">Exactly twice a day.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_58" title="58"> </SPAN><div class="line">If I had been a Heathen,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">I'd have crowned Ne&oelig;ra's curls,<br/></div> <div class="line">And filled my life with love affairs,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">My house with dancing girls;<br/></div> <div class="line">But Higgins is a Heathen,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">And to lecture rooms is forced,<br/></div> <div class="line">Where his aunts, who are not married,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">Demand to be divorced.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="line">If I had been a Heathen,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">I'd have sent my armies forth,<br/></div> <div class="line">And dragged behind my chariots<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">The Chieftains of the North.<br/></div> <div class="line">But Higgins is a Heathen,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">And he drives the dreary quill,<br/></div> <div class="line">To lend the poor that funny cash<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">That makes them poorer still.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_59" title="59"> </SPAN><div class="line">If I had been a Heathen,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">I'd have piled my pyre on high,<br/></div> <div class="line">And in a great red whirlwind<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">Gone roaring to the sky;<br/></div> <div class="line">But Higgins is a Heathen,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">And a richer man than I;<br/></div> <div class="line">And they put him in an oven,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">Just as if he were a pie.<br/></div> </div><div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Now who that runs can read it,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">The riddle that I write,<br/></div> <div class="line">Of why this poor old sinner,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">Should sin without delight&mdash;?<br/></div> <div class="line">But I, I cannot read it<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">(Although I run and run),<br/></div> <div class="line">Of them that do not have the faith,<br/></div> <div class="line indent2">And will not have the fun.<br/></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />