Marihuma

From: Punch magazine, April 5, 1905, Page 1. ("Punch, or the London Charivari";10 Bouverie Street, London)

Graphic image of this article

(A recent discovery in Mexico. It is held to possess all the charms of tobacco and at  the same time to be not only innocuous, but actually to stimulate both digestion and appetite.)

Flower of the West, with the soft, sweet, name

 Marihuma,

Follow, oh, follow, thy new-won fame,

Marihuma;

Follow it out from the thankless West

(Nasty, uncivilized part at best.)

Come! We would know thee, know thee and test,

Marihuma,

Here is one I have loved full well,

Marihuma,

Sister of thine, with a sister-spell,

Marihuma,

Mild as the sap of the Balsam Tree,

Sweet as the odours of the Engedi,

Rose of a thornless Briar, she,

Marihuma,

Ah, but she worked this evil thing,

Marihuma,

Save we be chary of worshipping,

Marihuma,

Surely, she sendeth a poison dart,

Scraping the coats of -- the tender part --,

Giving us the Staggers, and Smoker's Heart,

Marihuma,

Thou, 'tis said, have a purer charm,

Marihuma,

Milder and sweeter, and free from harm,

Marihuma,

Thee we may honor from morn till night,

Worship, and win of the grateful rite,

Aid to digestion and appetite,

Marihuma,

What is the truth of the tale one hears,

Marihuma?

Art thou the thing we have sought for years,

Marihuma?

Come, for thy presence alone can show

(Man had discovered it years ago,

anywhere else than in Mexico),

Marihuma.

Come, then, to a kinder land,

Marihuma;

Thou shalt be met by a big brass band,

Marihuma;

Come to the trumpet, come to the drum,

Come to the toot of the flute: ah, come,

Come to the pipe of your own Dum-Dum,

Marihuma!