Jack and Jillian had plod-
(ded) Up the grassy mountain-way,
Their feet had unwearying trod
The warm moist grass, the heather spray;
And when they near had reached the top
They looked round for a place to stop;
And would have done so, I have heard,
Had not a tragedy occurred.
.
For Jack had stepped upon a stone
Or something, walking up ahead;
At any rate, he broke his bone –
That is, the one inside his head;
This necessary part of Jack
Was split in half from front to back.
Not only this – oh horrors! – still
He went on tumbling down the hill.
.
And when at last he came to stop
He called to Jillian aloud
Who, looking at him from the top
Was motionless, all blank and proud.
She thought this happening amusing!
She saw his pain, and the blood oozing,
But though Jack's head spouted vermillion
On went the mocking laugh of Jillian.
.
However, after this, it seems,
She lost her sense of balancing;
The air was filled with Jillian's screams,
A shrill and terrifying thing.
She lost her footing, tripped and fell;
She didn't feel at all so well,
For just as Jack had fallen down
She trembled, shook, and broke her crown.
.
Be this a lesson to you folks.
This is a moral to be prized.
Have this tale framed, or better yet
You ought to have it memorized.