Was a desert thirst for the cup accurst,—

A quenchless love for the Flowing Bowl.

 When he woke at morn with a head forlorn And a taste like a last-year swallow’s nest, He would kneel and pray, then rise and flay His sinful body like all possessed.

When he woke at morn with a head forlorn

And a taste like a last-year swallow’s nest,

He would kneel and pray, then rise and flay

His sinful body like all possessed.

 Frequently tempted, he fell from grace, And as often he found the devil to pay; But by diligent scourging and diligent purging He managed to keep Old Nick at bay.

Frequently tempted, he fell from grace,

And as often he found the devil to pay;

But by diligent scourging and diligent purging

He managed to keep Old Nick at bay.

[Pg 10] This was the plight of our anchorite,— An endless penance condemned to dree,— When it chanced one day there came his way A Mystical Book with a golden Key.

[Pg 10]

This was the plight of our anchorite,—

An endless penance condemned to dree,—

When it chanced one day there came his way

A Mystical Book with a golden Key.

 This Mystical Book was a guide to health, That none might follow and go astray; While a turn of the Key unlocked the wealth That all unknown in the Scriptures lay.

This Mystical Book was a guide to health,

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