When Emily her Task had done
It was her Nurse’s Rule
To stern forbid her Charge to run
Near Miller Jones’s Pool.
But Emily did not incline
Kind Nursey to obey,
She saw the Water Lilies shine
That on the Water lay.
“La!” she exclaimed, “what Nurse desired
She idly spoke in Haste,
Those Plants would fitly be admired
If on the Table placed.”
And so, with bold, presumptuous Mien
And disobedient Pride,
She hies her to the Meadows green
Wherein the Waters glide.
To reach the Flowers she plies each Art,
And, in the very Deed,
A Victim to her wilful Heart,
She sinks beneath the Weed.
Nurse Sukey, from her Window high,
The dire Misfortune views,
Her deaf’ning Scream and frenzied Eye
Proclaim the fatal News.
Dragged by the Miller and his Wife,
Who haste their Aid to lend,
Young Emily, restored to Life,
Makes Promise to amend.
“Ah me!” she cries, “tho’ crowned with Slime
And choked with Mud and Leaves,
My Heart may profit, in its Time,
By what my Fault receives.”