The Sturdy Teetotaler

What if a friend, in the blindness of kindness
     Draw you to drink by a clever endeavor?
Turning from virtue, your strength will desert you,
     Stoutly assert you, and answer him, “Never!”
               Say to the tempter, “I’m a teetotaler,
                         Sturdy teetotaler!
               I’m a teetotaler, now and for ever!”

What if a lady, enchantingly vaunting
     The praises of wine, would ever make waver
Your will? In such danger, though friend or though stranger,
     Dare to estrange her, and answer her, “Never!”
               Say to the tempter, “I’m a teetotaler,
                         Sturdy teetotaler!
               I’m a teetotaler, now and for ever!”

What if the doctor, more wilful than skilful, 
     Urge you by pangs of the liver to sever
Your heart from the regions of honest allegiance
     To truth? In obedience answer him, “Never!”
               Say to the tempter, “I’m a teetotaler,
                         Sturdy teetotaler!
               I’m a teetotaler, now and for ever!”

What if the pastor dissemble the symbol
     Of mercy with drams that may shiver for ever
The peace of the taster? Revering the Master
     Repel the red waster, and answer him, “Never!”
               Say to the tempter, “I’m a teetotaler,
                         Sturdy teetotaler!
               I’m a teetotaler, now and for ever!”