Answer:
I am commonly abbreviated to H
I am slim and tall many find me desirable and appealing they touch me and I give a false good feeling once I shine in splendor but only once and then no more for many I am to die for.
Without a bridle or a saddle across a thing I ride a-straddle. And those I ride by help of me though almost blind are made to see.
I cannot be burned in fire or drowned in water. What am I?
found at the back of the book.
It flows out of the soil, It burns you if it boils, And holds us in its coils, More valuable than gold, As black as it is old.