Haec Fabula Docet + 

A rat who’d gorged a box of bane + 

And suffered an internal pain + 

Came from his hole to die (the label + 

Required it if the rat were able) + 

And found outside his habitat + 

A limpid stream. Of bane and rat + 

’Twas all unconscious; in the sun + 

It ran and prattled just for fun. + 

Keen to allay his inward throes, + 

The beast immersed his filthy nose + 

And drank⁠—then, bloated by the stream, + 

And filled with superheated steam, + 

Exploded with a rascal smell, + 

Remarking, as his fragments fell + 

Astonished in the brook: “I’m thinking + 

This water’s damned unwholesome drinking!” + 