Ode

Ode

In Eden's green retreats,

A water brook, that play'd

Between soft, mossy seats

Beneath a plane-tree's shade,

    Whose rustling leaves

      Danc'd o'er its brink -

      Was Adam's drink,

    And also Eve's.

Beside the parent spring

Of that young brook, the pair

Their morning chant would sing:

And Eve, to dress her hair,

    Kneel on the grass

      That fringed its side,

      And make its tide

    Her looking-glass.

And when the man of God

From Egypt led his flock;

They thirsted, and his rod

Smote the Arabian rock,

    And forth a rill

      Of water gushed,

      And on they rushed

    And drank their fill.

Would Eden thus have smiled,

Has wine to Eden come?

Would Horeb's parching wild

Have been refreshed with rum?

    And had Eve's hair

      Been dressed in gin,

      Would she have been

    Reflected fair?

Had Moses built a still,

And dealt out to that host,

To every man his gill,

And pledg'd him in a toast -

    How large a band

      Of Israel's sons

      Had lain their bones

    In Canaan's land?

"Sweet fields, beyond death's flood,

Stand dressed in living green:"

For, from the throne of God,

To freshen all the scene,

    A river rolls,

        Where all who will,

        May come and fill

    Their crystal bowls.

If Eden's strength and bloom,

COLD WATER thus hath given,

If, even beyond the tomb

It is the drink of Heaven,

    Are not good wells,

        And crystal springs

        The very things

    For our Hotels?

Rev. John Pierpoint

1:30, p. 3

1837.07.29

From Merc. Journal: Ode sung at a temperance celebration at the Marlboro' Hotel