29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife? Who has complaints?
    Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30. Those who linger over wine,
    who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
31. Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup,
    when it goes down smoothly!
32. In the end it bites like a snake
    and poisons like a viper.
33. Your eyes will see strange sights
    and your mind imagine confusing things.
34. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas,
    lying on top of the rigging.
35. "They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt!
    They beat me, but I don't feel it!
    When will I wake up
    so I can find another drink?"

19. Listen, my son, and be wise,
    and keep your heart on the right path.
20. Do not join those who drink too much wine
    or gorge themselves on meat,
21. for drunkards and gluttons become poor,
    and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

4. "It is not for kings, O Lemuel—
   not for kings to drink wine,
   not for rulers to crave beer,
5. lest they drink and forget what the law decrees,
   and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.
6. Give beer to those who are perishing,
   wine to those who are in anguish;
7. let them drink and forget their poverty
   and remember their misery no more.

Compiled by Courtenay Thompson, a friend of A.A.