Intolerance

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.

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