Abstaining From Liquor By St. Thiruvalluvar Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

921. Addicts to toddy do not instil fear into foes.
Off their fame too goes.
922. The wise don’t drink Palm-wine.
If you don’t want to be revered by them, take to drinks.
923. Even a mother hates her son boozing and stumbling.
What will it be then taking drinks before the great?
924. The fair modesty flees from him
Who commits the brazen crime of consuming liquor.
925. It is absurd to lose money to drink intoxicants
And fall in a state of forgetfulness.
926. Those who doze drinking booze are dead alike
As drinkers for ever drink nothing but poison.
927. Sensing those who always drink in stealth and feel dizzy
The local men will snigger at them.
928. Leave off the grumble for not tasting liquor.
The hidden crime in the mind comes out soon.
929. Reasoning with a drunkard resembles to search out a man
Immersed in water with a lamp in hand.
930. While not quaffing drinks if one espies a drunkard,
Reflects on the tiredness of drinking.