Goblin Market, The Princes Progress, and Other Poems | Page 3

if we lost our way what should we do?'
Laura turned cold as stone?To find her sister heard that cry alone,?That goblin cry,?'Come buy our fruits, come buy.'?Must she then buy no more such dainty fruit??Must she no more such succous pasture find,?Gone deaf and blind??Her tree of life drooped from the root: 260 She said not one word in her heart's sore ache;?But peering thro' the dimness, nought discerning,?Trudged home, her pitcher dripping all the way;?So crept to bed, and lay?Silent till Lizzie slept;?Then sat up in a passionate yearning,?And gnashed her teeth for baulked desire, and wept?As if her heart would break.
Day after day, night after night,?Laura kept watch in vain 270 In sullen silence of exceeding pain.?She never caught again the goblin cry:?'Come buy, come buy;'--?She never spied the goblin men?Hawking their fruits along the glen:?But when the noon waxed bright?Her hair grew thin and grey;?She dwindled, as the fair full moon doth turn?To swift decay and burn?Her fire away. 280
One day remembering her kernel-stone?She set it by a wall that faced the south;?Dewed it with tears, hoped for a root,?Watched for a waxing shoot,?But there came none;?It never saw the sun,?It never felt the trickling moisture run:?While with sunk eyes and faded mouth?She dreamed of melons, as a traveller sees?False waves in desert drouth 290 With shade of leaf-crowned trees,?And burns the thirstier in the sandful breeze.
She no more swept the house,?Tended the fowls or cows,?Fetched honey, kneaded cakes of wheat,?Brought water from the brook:?But sat down listless in the chimney-nook?And would not eat.
Tender Lizzie could not bear?To watch her sister's cankerous care 300 Yet not to share.?She night and morning?Caught the goblins' cry:?'Come buy our orchard fruits,?Come buy, come buy:'--?Beside the brook, along the glen,?She heard the tramp of goblin men,?The voice and stir?Poor Laura could not hear;?Longed to buy fruit to comfort her, 310 But feared to pay too dear.?She thought of Jeanie in her grave,?Who should have been a bride;?But who for joys brides hope to have?Fell sick and died?In her gay prime,?In earliest Winter time?With the first glazing rime,?With the first snow-fall of crisp Winter time.
Till Laura dwindling 320 Seemed knocking at Death's door:?Then Lizzie weighed no more?Better and worse;?But put a silver penny in her purse,?Kissed Laura, crossed the heath with clumps of furze?At twilight, halted by the brook:?And for the first time in her life?Began to listen and look.
Laughed every goblin?When they spied her peeping: 330 Came towards her hobbling,?Flying, running, leaping,?Puffing and blowing,?Chuckling, clapping, crowing,?Clucking and gobbling,?Mopping and mowing,?Full of airs and graces,?Pulling wry faces,?Demure grimaces,?Cat-like and rat-like, 340 Ratel- and wombat-like,?Snail-paced in a hurry,?Parrot-voiced and whistler,?Helter skelter, hurry skurry,?Chattering like magpies,?Fluttering like pigeons,?Gliding like fishes,--?Hugged her and kissed her:?Squeezed and caressed her:?Stretched up their dishes, 350 Panniers, and plates:?'Look at our apples?Russet and dun,?Bob at our cherries,?Bite at our peaches,?Citrons and dates,?Grapes for the asking,?Pears red with basking?Out in the sun,?Plums on their twigs; 360 Pluck them and suck them,?Pomegranates, figs.'--
'Good folk,' said Lizzie,?Mindful of Jeanie:?'Give me much and many:'--?Held out her apron,?Tossed them her penny.?'Nay, take a seat with us,?Honour and eat with us,'?They answered grinning: 370 'Our feast is but beginning.?Night yet is early,?Warm and dew-pearly,?Wakeful and starry:?Such fruits as these?No man can carry;?Half their bloom would fly,?Half their dew would dry,?Half their flavour would pass by.?Sit down and feast with us, 380 Be welcome guest with us,?Cheer you and rest with us.'--?'Thank you,' said Lizzie: 'But one waits?At home alone for me:?So without further parleying,?If you will not sell me any?Of your fruits though much and many,?Give me back my silver penny?I tossed you for a fee.'--?They began to scratch their pates, 390 No longer wagging, purring,?But visibly demurring,?Grunting and snarling.?One called her proud,?Cross-grained, uncivil;?Their tones waxed loud,?Their looks were evil.?Lashing their tails?They trod and hustled her,?Elbowed and jostled her, 400 Clawed with their nails,?Barking, mewing, hissing, mocking,?Tore her gown and soiled her stocking,?Twitched her hair out by the roots,?Stamped upon her tender feet,?Held her hands and squeezed their fruits?Against her mouth to make her eat.
White and golden Lizzie stood,?Like a lily in a flood,--?Like a rock of blue-veined stone 410 Lashed by tides obstreperously,--?Like a beacon left alone?In a hoary roaring sea,?Sending up a golden fire,--?Like a fruit-crowned orange-tree?White with blossoms honey-sweet?Sore beset by wasp and bee,--?Like a royal virgin town?Topped with gilded dome and spire?Close beleaguered by a fleet 420 Mad to tug her standard down.
One may lead a horse to water,?Twenty cannot make him drink.?Though the goblins cuffed and caught her,?Coaxed and fought her,?Bullied and besought her,?Scratched her, pinched her black as ink,?Kicked and knocked her,?Mauled and mocked her,?Lizzie uttered not a word; 430 Would not open lip from lip?Lest they should cram a mouthful in:?But laughed in heart to feel the drip?Of juice that syrupped all her face,?And lodged in dimples of