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
‘ T was 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!”