Ah, how transient heartbreak in the young can be!

This at least is the moral of this witty little tale in Scots by Helen B Cruickshank (it comes from her Collected Poems, published by Reprographia in 1971).

THE WISHIN' WELL

A lass cam' sabbin'

Tae my brink,

Tae dip her hand

An' wishin', drink.

"O, water, water,

Gi'e tae me

This wish I wish,

Or else I dee!"

Back cam' the lass

Years efter-hand,

An' peered again

At my dancin' sand.

"I mind," she said

"O' drinkin' here,

But - Losh keep me,

What did I speir?"