" the Spirit of Drink as a Dark Slender Boy who accompanies his protégé everywhere."
Would he be any relation to this fella from an unknown poet?

A tall dark man & his wee brown dog.

Ach wummin will you haud yer wheesht, I know I'm awful late!
Well no, I didn't get all done, the jobs that are on my plate.
Ye see, life is never simple and ye canna tell before,
The tricks that fate'll play on us, the things God has in store.
Sure, I was full of good intentions,If you only knew,
The list of things that's needing done, that I was going to do,
Man, you would've seen some action.If I hadnae stopped and spoke,
To a tall dark man , wi' a wee brown dog.

Sure man can just be daicent and honesty itself,
And he cannae turn and walk away when someone's needing help.
When I bumped into Dezzy he was leaning on the wall,
He said he'd been there maist the day, in case the thing would fall!
Sure'n' both his shoulders were worn through to the bone,
I couldn't leave a man like that, to face the job alone!
So I downed my tools and joined him, he caught his breath and spoke,
About a tall dark man and a wee brown dog.

Now Dezzy is no author, but when something's got his goat,
He can speak his mind as clear as any sermon wrote.
And he talked about the weather, and the troubles in this land,
And all the ins and outs of the job we had in hand.
He said since the two of us had been working all this time,
He thocht that for a little while, the wall would just be fine.
"Come on I'll introduce you" he said and cleared his throat,
"To a tall dark man", wi' a wee brown dog.

Sure a man can jist be civil, sure, not rude to fellow man,
So I went along with Dezzy, and we left the wall to stand.
We went to certain premises, and hadnae long to wait,
'Til a tall dark stranger joined us, and man his crack wis great!
And short and tall the tales were told, telling truth, and lying!
I swear to God I couldna tell, the way the time was flying!
And though the mood was fancy free, there was one word of warning,
Although the dog was friendly now, he'd be vicious in the morning!
When it comes to best of company, I know I'd gi' my vote,
To a tall dark man, and his wee brown dog!

What a man must do, a man must do, it's all a body can,
And I wandered past the building, with the wall we'd left to stand.
Now I had faith in Dezzy's judgement, but that bloody wall was shakin'!
I'm telling you, I swear to God, yon thing was well past saving!
But the wife says "Sammy Semple, you lies'll never blin' us,
For I know that tall black stranger , and I know his name is Guiness!
And when the man, and no the dog, has started getting frisky,
Then that's the dog that leads the man, and I know it's name is whisky!
Hey, Sammy Semple, listen here, you'll rue the day you spoke,
To a tall dark man, and his wee brown