Ode. Poem by Benjamin Cutler Clark

In bonds of friendship sweet,
To soothe each other's woe,
Samaria's sons and daughters meet
In lodges here below.

While selfishness and sin
Cause thousands to lament,
These consecrated walls within,
We here behold content.

By obligations bound
Intemperance to shun,
Oh, may we constantly be found
The enemies of rum;

And vice, and crime, and sin,
And enmity, and pain,
Be never suffered to come in
To mar our peace again—

Until we're called away
To the Grand Lodge above,
And praise and adoration pay
To purity and love.