Songs of Childhood | Page 7

Ann,
And I must go without.'
That changeling, lean and icy-lipped,?Touched crust, and bone, and groat, and lo!?Beneath her finger taper-tipped
The magic all ran through.
Instead of crust a peacock pie,?Instead of bone sweet venison,?Instead of groat a white lilie
With seven blooms thereon.
And each fair cup was deep with wine:?Such was the changeling's charity,?The sweet feast was enough for nine,
But not too much for three.
O toothsome meat in jelly froze!?O tender haunch of elfin stag!?O rich the odour that arose!
O plump with scraps each bag!
There, in the daybreak gold and wild,?Each merry-hearted beggar man?Drank deep unto the fairy child,
And blessed the good St Ann.
THE DWARF
'Now, Jinnie, my dear, to the dwarf be off,
That lives in Barberry Wood,?And fetch me some honey, but be sure you don't laugh,-- He hates little girls that are rude, are rude,?He hates little girls that are rude.'
Jane tapped at the door of the house in the wood,
And the dwarf looked over the wall,?He eyed her so queer, 'twas as much as she could?To keep from laughing at all, at all,?To keep from laughing at all.
His shoes down the passage came clod, clod, clod,
And when he opened the door,?He croaked so harsh, 'twas as much as she could?To keep from laughing the more, the more,?To keep from laughing the more.
As there, with his bushy red beard, he stood,
Pricked out to double its size,?He squinted so cross, 'twas as much as she could?To keep the tears out of her eyes, her eyes,?To keep the tears out of her eyes.
He slammed the door, and went clod, clod, clod,
But while in the porch she bides,?He squealed so fierce, 'twas as much as she could?To keep from cracking her sides, her sides,?To keep from cracking her sides.
He threw a pumpkin over the wall,
And melons and apples beside,?So thick in the air, that to see 'em all fall,?She laughed, and laughed, till she cried, cried, cried, Jane laughed and laughed till she cried.
Down fell her teardrops a pit-apat-pat,
And red as a rose she grew;--?'Kah! kah!' said the dwarf, 'is it crying you're at??It's the very worst thing you could do, do, do,?It's the very worst thing you could do.'
He slipped like a monkey up into a tree,
He shook her down cherries like rain;?'See now,' says he, cheeping, 'a blackbird I be,?Laugh, laugh, little Jinnie, again-gain-gain,?Laugh, laugh, little Jinnie, again.'
Ah me! what a strange, what a gladsome duet
From a house i' the deeps of a wood!?Such shrill and such harsh voices never met yet?A-laughing as loud as they could-could-could,?A-laughing as loud as they could.
Come Jinnie, come dwarf, cocksparrow, and bee,
There's a ring gaudy-green in the dell,?Sing, sing, ye sweet cherubs, that flit in the tree;?La! who can draw tears from a well-well-well,?Who ever drew tears from a well!
ALULVAN
The sun is clear of bird and cloud,?The grass shines windless, grey, and still,?In dusky ruin the owl dreams on,?The cuckoo echoes on the hill;?Yet soft along Alulvan's walks?The ghost at noonday stalks.
His eyes in shadow of his hat?Stare on the ruins of his house;?His cloak, up-fasten'd with a brooch,?Of faded velvet grey as mouse,?Brushes the roses as he goes:?Yet wavers not one rose.
The wild birds in a cloud fly up?From their sweet feeding in the fruit;?The droning of the bees and flies?Rises gradual as a lute;?Is it for fear the birds are flown,?And shrills the insect-drone?
Thick is the ivy o'er Alulvan,?And crisp with summer-heat its turf;?Far, far across its empty pastures?Alulvan's sands are white with surf:?And he himself is grey as sea,?Watching beneath an elder-tree.
All night the fretful, shrill Banshee?Lurks in the chambers' dark festoons,?Calling for ever, o'er garden and river,?Through magpie changing of the moons:?'Alulvan, O, alas! Alulvan,?The doom of lone Alulvan!'
THE PEDLAR
There came a Pedlar to an evening house;?Sweet Lettice, from her lattice looking down,?Wondered what man he was, so curious?His black hair dangled on his tattered gown:?Then lifts he up his face, with glittering eyes,--?'What will you buy, sweetheart?--Here's honeycomb,?And mottled pippins, and sweet mulberry pies,?Comfits and peaches, snowy cherry bloom,?To keep in water for to make night sweet:?All that you want, sweetheart,--come, taste and eat!'
Ev'n with his sugared words, returned to her?The clear remembrance of a gentle voice:--?'And O! my child, should ever a flatterer?Tap with his wares, and promise of all joys?And vain sweet pleasures that on earth may be;?Seal up your ears, sing some old happy song,?Confuse his magic who is all mockery:?His sweets are death.' Yet, still, how she doth long?But just to taste, then shut the lattice tight,?And hide her eyes from the delicious sight!
'What must I pay?' she whispered. 'Pay!' says he,?'Pedlar I am who through this wood do roam,?One lock of hair is gold enough for me,?For apple, peach, comfit, or honeycomb!'?But from her bough a drowsy squirrel cried,?'Trust him not, Lettice, trust, oh trust him not!'?And many another woodland tongue beside?Rose softly in the silence--'Trust him