Classic Poem

One day, as we sat at a generous board,
Where wine with a liberal hand was poured,
I heard a beautiful lady say,
Whose lord had sometimes gone astray,
Just as the sparkling cup was raised,
That one too much for a social dinner —
A rebuke, I am sure, the angels praised —
" I hate the sin, but I love the sinner. "

Down went the cup to the snowy cloth,
Brimming and laughing with creamy froth,
That quickly flattened below the brim,
While the master's eye with a haze grew dim,
And ever after, the wine at his side
Wooed him in vain as it sparkled and died;
And though he should sit at the board of a duke,
'Mid the kingliest wines of a princely dinner,
He would still remember that sweet rebuke,
" I hate the sin, but I love the sinner. "