Tobacco Next

They took away your drink from you,     The kind old humanizing glass;     Soon they will take tobacco too,     And next they'll take our demi-tasse.     Don't say, "The bill will never pass,"     Nor this my warning word disdain;     You said it once, you silly ass -     Don't make the same mistake again.     We know them now, the bloodless crew,     We know them all too well, alas!     There's nothing that they wouldn't do     To make the world a Bible class;     Though against bottled beer or Bass     I search the sacred text in vain     To find a whisper - by the Mass!     Don't make the same mistake again.     Beware these legislators blue,     Pouring their moral poison-gas     On all the joys our fathers knew;     The very flowers in the grass     Are safe no more, and, lad and lass,     'Ware the old birch-rod and the cane!     Here comes our modern Hudibras! -     Don't make the same mistake again.     ENVOI     Prince, vanished is the rail of brass,     So mark me well and my refrain -     Tobacco next! you silly ass,     Don't make the same mistake again.