For a Temperance dinner to which ladies were <br />Invited (new York Mercantile library Association, <br />November, 1842) <br /> <br /> <br />A health to dear woman! She bids us untwine, <br />From the cup it encircles, the fast-clinging vine; <br />But her cheek in its crystal with pleasure will glow, <br />And mirror its bloom in the bright wave below. <br /> <br />A health to sweet woman! The days are no more <br />When she watched for her lord till the revel was o’er, <br />And smoothed the white pillow, and blushed when he came, <br />As she pressed her cold lips on his forehead of flame. <br /> <br />Alas for the loved one! too spotless and fair <br />The joys of his banquet to chasten and share; <br />Her eye lost its light that his goblet might shine, <br />And the rose of her cheek was dissolved in his wine. <br /> <br />Joy smiles in the fountain, health flows in the rills, <br />As their ribbons of silver unwind from the hills; <br />They breathe not the mist of the bacchanal’s dream, <br />But the lilies of innocence float on their stream. <br /> <br />Then a health and a welcome to woman once more! <br />She brings us a passport that laughs at our door; <br />It is written on crimson,—Âits letters are pearls,— <br />It is countersigned Nature.—ÂSo, room for the Girls!<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/song-for-a-temperance-dinner/
