Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems by the late Thomas Haynes Bayly; Edited by his Widow. With A Memoir of the Author. In Two Volumes |
 | I. |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE NURSERY TALE. |
|
|
|
| II. |
 | Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems |  |
THE NURSERY TALE.
I
Oh! did you not hear, in your nursery,The tale that the gossips tell,
Of the two young girls who came to drink,
At a certain fairy well?
The words of the youngest were as sweet
As the smile on her ruby lip;
But the tongue of the eldest seemed to move
As if venom were on its tip!
205
II
At the well a beggar accosted them,(A sprite in a mean disguise.)
The eldest spoke with a scornful brow,
The youngest with tearful eyes.
Cried the fairy, “Whenever you speak, sweet girl,
Pure gems from your lips shall fall;
But whenever you utter a word, proud maid,
From your tongue shall a serpent crawl.”
III
And have you not met these sisters oft,In the haunts of the old and young,
The first with her pure and unsullied lip,
The last with her serpent tongue?
Yes! the first is Goodnature; diamonds bright
On the darkest theme she throws;
And the last is Slander, leaving the slime
Of the snake where'er she goes.
| Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems | |