<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-model href="http://www.tei-c.org/release/xml/tei/custom/schema/relaxng/tei_all.rng" type="application/xml" schematypens="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0"?>
<?xml-model href="http://www.tei-c.org/release/xml/tei/custom/schema/relaxng/tei_all.rng" type="application/xml"
schematypens="http://purl.oclc.org/dsdl/schematron"?>
<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
<teiHeader>
<fileDesc>
<titleStmt>
<title>Goblin Market</title>
</titleStmt>
<publicationStmt>
<p>from Goblin Market and Other Poems</p>
</publicationStmt>
<sourceDesc>
<p>Macmillan 1862</p>
</sourceDesc>
</fileDesc>
</teiHeader>
<text>
<body><head>
<title>Goblin Market</title></head>
<lg>
<l>Morning and evening</l>
<l>Maids heard the <ref target="#World07">goblins</ref> cry: </l>
<l>‘<ref target="#IsaCh55v1">Come buy</ref> our orchard <ref target="#World06">fruits</ref>,</l>
<l><ref target="#IsaCh55v1">Come buy, come buy</ref>:</l>
<l>Apples and quinces,</l>
<l>Lemons and oranges,</l>
<l>Plump unpecked cherries,</l>
<l>Melons and raspberries,</l>
<l>Bloom-down-cheeked peaches,</l>
<l>Swart-headed mulberries,</l>
<l>Wild free-born cranberries,</l>
<l>Crab-apples, dewberries,</l>
<l>Pine-apples, blackberries,</l>
<l>Apricots, strawberries; —</l>
<l><ref target="#World06">All ripe together</ref></l>
<l>In summer weather, —</l>
<l>Morns that pass by,</l>
<l>Fair eves that fly;</l>
<l>Come buy, come buy:</l>
<l>Our grapes fresh from the vine,</l>
<l>Pomegranates full and fine,</l>
<l>Dates and sharp bullaces,</l>
<l>Rare pears and greengages,</l>
<l>Damsons and bilberries,</l>
<l>Taste them and try:</l>
<l>Currants and gooseberries,</l>
<l>Bright-fire-like barberries,</l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty02">Figs to fill your mouth,</ref></l>
<l>Citrons from the South,</l>
<l>Sweet to tongue and sound to eye;</l>
<l>Come buy, come buy.’</l>
<l>Evening by evening</l>
<l>Among the brookside rushes,</l>
<l>Laura bowed her head to hear,</l>
<l>Lizzie veiled her blushes:</l>
<l>Crouching close together</l>
<l>In the cooling weather,</l>
<l>With clasping arms and cautioning lips,</l>
<l>With tingling cheeks and finger tips.</l>
<l>‘Lie close,’ Laura said,</l>
<l>Pricking up her golden head:</l>
<l>‘We must not look at goblin men,</l>
<l>We must not buy their fruits:</l>
<l>Who knows upon what soil they fed</l>
<l>Their hungry thirsty roots?’</l>
<l>‘Come buy,’ call the goblins</l>
<l>Hobbling down the glen.</l>
<l>‘Oh,’ cried Lizzie, ‘Laura, Laura,</l>
<l>You should not peep at goblin men.’</l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty02">Lizzie covered up her eyes,</ref></l>
<l>Covered close lest they should look;</l>
<l>Laura reared her glossy head,</l>
<l>And whispered like the restless brook:</l>
<l>‘Look, Lizzie, look, Lizzie,</l>
<l>Down the glen tramp little men.</l>
<l>One hauls a basket,</l>
<l>One bears a plate,</l>
<l>One lugs a golden dish</l>
<l>Of many pounds weight.</l>
<l><ref target="#World06">How fair the vine must grow</ref></l>
<l>Whose grapes are so luscious;</l>
<l>How warm the wind must blow</l>
<l>Through those fruit bushes.’</l>
<l>‘No,’ said Lizzie, ‘No, no, no;</l>
<l>Their offers should not charm us,</l>
<l><ref target="#TheWorld07">Their evil gifts would harm us</ref>.’</l>
<l>She thrust a dimpled finger</l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty02 ">In each ear, shut eyes and ran:</ref></l>
<l>Curious Laura chose to linger</l>
<l>Wondering at each merchant man.</l>
<l>One had a cat’s face,</l>
<l>One whisked a tail,</l>
<l>One tramped at a rat’s pace,</l>
<l>One crawled like a snail,</l>
<l>One like a wombat prowled obtuse and furry,</l>
<l>One like a ratel tumbled hurry skurry.</l>
<l>She heard a voice like voice of doves</l>
<l>Cooing all together:</l>
<l>They sounded kind and full of loves</l>
<l>In the pleasant weather.</l>
</lg>
<lg>
<l>Down the glen tramp little men</l>
<l>Laura stretched her gleaming neck</l>
<l>Like a rush-imbedded swan,</l>
<l>Like a <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies11">lily</ref> from the beck,</l>
<l>Like a moonlit poplar branch,</l>
<l>Like a vessel at the launch</l>
<l>When its last restraint is gone.</l>
<l>Backwards up the mossy glen</l>
<l>Turned and trooped the goblin men,</l>
<l>With their shrill repeated cry,</l>
<l>‘Come buy, come buy.’</l>
<l>When they reached where Laura was</l>
<l>They stood stock still upon the <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies21">moss</ref>,</l>
<l>Leering at each other,</l>
<l>Brother with queer brother;</l>
<l>Signalling each other,</l>
<l>Brother with sly brother.</l>
<l>One set his basket down,</l>
<l>One reared his plate;</l>
<l>One began to weave a crown</l>
<l>Of tendrils, leaves, and rough nuts brown</l>
<l>(Men sell not such in any town);</l>
<l>One heaved the golden weight</l>
<l>Of <ref target="#World05">dish and fruit to offer her:</ref></l>
<l>‘Come buy, come buy,’ was still their cry.</l>
<l>Laura stared but did not stir,</l>
<l>Longed but had no money:</l>
<l><ref target="#World01">The whisk-tailed merchant bade her taste</ref></l>
<l>In tones as smooth as honey,</l>
<l>The cat-faced purr’d,</l>
<l>The rat-faced spoke a word</l>
<l>Of welcome, and the snail-paced even was heard;</l>
<l>One parrot-voiced and jolly</l>
<l>Cried ‘Pretty Goblin’ still for ‘Pretty Polly;’ —</l>
<l>One whistled like a bird.</l>
<l>But sweet-tooth Laura spoke in haste:</l>
<l>‘Good folk, I have no coin;</l>
<l>To take were to purloin:</l>
<l>I have no copper in my purse,</l>
<l>I have no silver either,</l>
<l>And all my gold is on the furze</l>
<l>That shakes in windy weather</l>
<l>Above the rusty heather.’</l>
<l>‘You have much gold upon your head,’</l>
<l>They answered all together:</l>
<l>‘Buy from us with a golden curl.’</l>
<l><ref target="#World12">She clipped a precious golden lock,</ref></l>
<l>She dropped a tear more rare than pearl,</l>
<l><ref target="#World06">Then sucked their fruit globes fair or red:</ref></l>
<l>Sweeter than <ref target="#DeutCh32v13">honey from the rock</ref>,</l>
<l>Stronger than man-rejoicing wine,</l>
<l>Clearer than water flowed that juice;</l>
<l>She never tasted such before,</l>
<l>How should it cloy with length of use?</l>
<l>She sucked and sucked and sucked the more</l>
<l>Fruits which that unknown orchard bore;</l>
<l>She sucked until her lips were sore;</l>
<l>Then flung the emptied rinds away</l>
<l>But gathered up one <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies24">kernel <ref target="#BetterResur02">stone</ref></ref>,</l>
<l>And knew not was it night or day</l>
<l>As she turned home alone.</l>
<l>Lizzie met her at the gate</l>
<l>Full of wise upbraidings:</l>
<l>‘Dear, you should not stay so late,</l>
<l><ref target="#World07">Twilight is not good for maidens;</ref></l>
<l>Should not loiter in the glen</l>
<l>In the haunts of goblin men.</l>
<l>Do you not remember Jeanie,</l>
<l><ref target="#World09">How she met them in the moonlight,</ref></l>
<l>Took their gifts both choice and many,</l>
<l><ref target="#World05">Ate their fruits and wore their flowers</ref></l>
<l>Plucked from bowers</l>
<l>Where summer ripens at all hours?</l>
<l>But ever in the noonlight</l>
<l>She pined and pined away;</l>
<l>Sought them by night and day,</l>
<l>Found them no more, but dwindled and grew grey;</l>
<l>Then fell with the first snow,</l>
<l>While to this day <ref target="#OneCertainty05">no <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies19">grass</ref> will grow</ref></l>
<l>Where she lies low:</l>
<l>I planted daisies there a year ago</l>
<l>That never blow.</l>
<l>You should not loiter so.’</l>
<l>‘Nay, hush,’ said Laura:</l>
<l>‘Nay, hush, my sister:</l>
<l><ref target="#World06">I ate and ate my fill</ref>,</l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty02">Yet my mouth waters still</ref>;</l>
<l>To-morrow night I will</l>
<l>Buy more:’ and kissed her:</l>
<l>‘Have done with sorrow;</l>
<l>I’ll bring you plums tomorrow</l>
<l>Fresh on their mother twigs,</l>
<l>Cherries worth getting;</l>
<l>You cannot think what figs</l>
<l>My teeth have met in,</l>
<l>What melons icy-cold</l>
<l>Piled on a dish of gold</l>
<l>Too huge for me to hold,</l>
<l>What peaches with a velvet nap,</l>
<l>Pellucid grapes without one seed:</l>
<l>Odorous indeed must be the mead</l>
<l>Whereon they grow, and pure the wave they drink</l>
<l>With <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies11">lilies</ref> at the brink,</l>
<l>And sugar-sweet their sap.’</l>
</lg>
<lg>
<l>Golden head by golden head,</l>
<l>Like two pigeons in one nest</l>
<l>Folded in each other’s wings,</l>
<l>They lay down in their curtained bed:</l>
<l>Like two blossoms on one stem,</l>
<l>Like two flakes of new-fall’n snow,</l>
<l>Like two wands of ivory</l>
<l>Tipped with gold for awful kings.</l>
<l>Moon and stars gazed in at them,</l>
<l>Wind sang to them lullaby,</l>
<l>Lumbering owls forbore to fly,</l>
<l>Not a bat flapped to and fro</l>
<l>Round their rest:</l>
<l>Cheek to cheek and breast to breast</l>
<l>Locked together in one nest.</l>
<l>Early in the morning</l>
<l>When the first cock crowed his warning,</l>
<l>Neat like bees, as sweet and busy,</l>
<l>Laura rose with Lizzie:</l>
<l>Fetched in honey, milked the cows,</l>
<l>Aired and set to rights the house,</l>
<l>Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat,</l>
<l>Cakes for dainty mouths to eat,</l>
<l>Next churned butter, whipped up cream,</l>
<l>Fed their poultry, sat and sewed;</l>
<l>Talked as modest maidens should:</l>
<l>Lizzie with an open heart,</l>
<l>Laura in an absent dream,</l>
<l>One content, one sick in part;</l>
<l>One warbling for the mere bright day’s delight,</l>
<l>One longing for the night.</l>
<l>At length slow evening came:</l>
<l>They went with pitchers to the reedy brook;</l>
<l>Lizzie most placid in her look,</l>
<l>Laura most like a leaping flame.</l>
<l>They drew the gurgling water from its deep;</l>
<l>Lizzie plucked purple and rich golden flags,</l>
<l>Then turning homeward said: ‘The sunset flushes</l>
<l>Those furthest loftiest crags;</l>
<l>Come, Laura, not another maiden lags,</l>
<l>No wilful squirrel wags,</l>
<l>The beasts and birds are fast asleep.’</l>
<l>But Laura loitered still among the rushes</l>
<l>And said the bank was steep.</l>
<l>And said the hour was early still</l>
<l>The <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">dew</ref> not fall’n, the wind not chill:</l>
<l>Listening ever, but not catching</l>
<l>The customary cry,</l>
<l>‘Come buy, come buy,’</l>
<l>With its iterated jingle</l>
<l>Of <ref target="#World05">sugar-baited</ref> words:</l>
<l>Not for all her watching</l>
<l>Once discerning even one goblin</l>
<l>Racing, whisking, tumbling, hobbling;</l>
<l>Let alone the herds</l>
<l>That used to tramp along the glen,</l>
<l>In groups or single,</l>
<l>Of brisk fruit-merchant men.</l>
<l>Till Lizzie urged, ‘O Laura, come;</l>
<l>I hear the fruit-call but I dare not look:</l>
<l>You should not loiter longer at this brook:</l>
<l>Come with me home.</l>
<l>The stars rise, the moon bends her arc,</l>
<l>Each glowworm winks her spark,</l>
<l>Let us get home before the night grows dark:</l>
<l>For clouds may gather</l>
<l>Though this is summer weather,</l>
<l>Put out the lights and drench us through;</l>
<l>Then if we lost our way what should we do?’</l>
<l>Laura turned cold as <ref target="#BetterResur02">stone</ref></l>
<l>To find her sister heard that cry alone,</l>
<l>That goblin cry,</l>
<l>‘Come buy our fruits, come buy.’</l>
<l>Must she then buy no more such dainty fruit?</l>
<l>Must she no more such succous pasture find,</l>
<l>Gone deaf and blind?</l>
<l>Her <ref target="#OneCertainty05">tree of life drooped from the root</ref>:</l>
<l>She said not one word in her heart’s sore ache;</l>
<l>But peering thro’ the dimness, nought discerning,</l>
<l>Trudged home, her pitcher dripping all the way;</l>
<l>So crept to bed, and lay</l>
<l>Silent till Lizzie slept;</l>
<l>Then sat up in a passionate yearning,</l>
<l>And <ref target="#OneCertainty07">gnashed her teeth for baulked desire, and wept</ref></l>
<l>As if her heart would break.</l>
<l>Day after day, night after night,</l>
<l>Laura kept watch in vain</l>
<l>In sullen silence of exceeding pain.</l>
<l>She never caught again the goblin cry:</l>
<l>‘Come buy, come buy;’ —</l>
<l>She never spied the goblin men</l>
<l>Hawking their fruits along the glen:</l>
<l>But when the noon waxed bright</l>
<l><ref target="#World12">Her hair grew thin and grey</ref>;</l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty04">She dwindled, as the fair full moon doth turn</ref></l>
<l>To swift decay and burn</l>
<l>Her fire away.</l>
<l>One day remembering her <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">kernel-<ref target="BetterResur02">stone</ref></ref></l>
<l>She set it by a wall that faced the south;</l>
<l>Dewed it with tears, hoped for a root,</l>
<l>Watched for a waxing shoot,</l>
<l>But there came none;</l>
<l>It never saw the <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">sun</ref>,</l>
<l>It never felt the trickling moisture run:</l>
<l>While with sunk eyes and faded mouth</l>
<l>She dreamed of melons, as a traveller sees</l>
<l>False waves in desert drouth</l>
<l>With shade of leaf-crowned trees,</l>
<l>And burns the thirstier in the sandful breeze.</l>
<l>She no more swept the house,</l>
<l>Tended the fowls or cows,</l>
<l>Fetched honey, kneaded cakes of wheat,</l>
<l>Brought water from the brook:</l>
<l>But sat down listless in the chimney-nook</l>
<l>And would not eat.</l>
<l>Tender Lizzie could not bear</l>
<l>To watch her sister’s cankerous care</l>
<l>Yet not to share.</l>
<l>She night and morning</l>
<l>Caught the goblins’ cry:</l>
<l>‘Come buy our orchard fruits,</l>
<l>Come buy, come buy:’ —</l>
<l>Beside the brook, along the glen,</l>
<l>She heard the tramp of goblin men,</l>
<l>The voice and stir</l>
<l>Poor Laura could not hear;</l>
<l>Longed to buy fruit to comfort her,</l>
<l>But feared to pay too dear.</l>
<l>She thought of Jeanie in her grave,</l>
<l>Who should have been a bride;</l>
<l>But who for joys brides hope to have</l>
<l>Fell sick and died</l>
<l>In her gay prime,</l>
<l>In earliest Winter time</l>
<l>With the first glazing rime,</l>
<l>With the first snow-fall of crisp Winter time.</l>
<l>Till Laura dwindling</l>
<l>Seemed <ref target="#OneCertainty08">knocking at Death’s door</ref>:</l>
<l>Then Lizzie weighed no more</l>
<l>Better and worse;</l>
<l>But put a silver penny in her purse,</l>
<l>Kissed Laura, crossed the heath with clumps of furze</l>
<l>At twilight, halted by the brook:</l>
<l>And for the first time in her life</l>
<l>Began to listen and look.</l>
<l><ref target="#World08">Laughed every goblin</ref></l>
<l>When they spied her peeping:</l>
<l>Came towards her hobbling,</l>
<l>Flying, running, leaping,</l>
<l>Puffing and blowing,</l>
<l>Chuckling, clapping, crowing,</l>
<l>Clucking and gobbling,</l>
<l>Mopping and mowing,</l>
<l>Full of airs and graces,</l>
<l>Pulling wry faces,</l>
<l>Demure grimaces,</l>
<l>Cat-like and rat-like,</l>
<l>Ratel — and wombat-like,</l>
<l>Snail-paced in a hurry,</l>
<l>Parrot-voiced and whistler,</l>
<l>Helter skelter, hurry skurry,</l>
<l>Chattering like magpies,</l>
<l>Fluttering like pigeons,</l>
<l>Gliding like fishes, —</l>
<l>Hugged her and kissed her:</l>
<l>Squeezed and caressed her:</l>
<l><ref target="#World06">Stretched up their dishes,</ref></l>
<l>Panniers, and plates:</l>
<l>‘Look at our apples</l>
<l>Russet and dun,</l>
<l>Bob at our cherries,</l>
<l>Bite at our peaches,</l>
<l>Citrons and dates,</l>
<l>Grapes for the asking,</l>
<l>Pears red with basking</l>
<l>Out in the sun,</l>
<l>Plums on their twigs;</l>
<l>Pluck them and suck them,</l>
<l>Pomegranates, figs.’ —</l>
<l>‘Good folk,’ said Lizzie,</l>
<l>Mindful of Jeanie:</l>
<l>‘Give me much and many:’ —</l>
<l>Held out her apron,</l>
<l>Tossed them her penny.</l>
<l>‘Nay, take a seat with us,</l>
<l>Honour and eat with us,’</l>
<l>They answered grinning:</l>
<l>‘Our feast is but beginning.</l>
<l>Night yet is early,</l>
<l>Warm and <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">dew</ref>-pearly,</l>
<l>Wakeful and starry:</l>
<l>Such fruits as these</l>
<l>No man can carry;</l>
<l>Half their bloom would fly,</l>
<l>Half their <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">dew</ref> would dry,</l>
<l>Half their flavour would pass by.</l>
<l>Sit down and feast with us,</l>
<l><ref target="#World01">Be welcome guest with us,</ref></l>
<l>Cheer you and rest with us.’ —</l>
<l>‘Thank you,’ said Lizzie: ‘But one waits</l>
<l>At home alone for me:</l>
<l>So without further parleying,</l>
<l>If you will not sell me any</l>
<l>Of your fruits though much and many,</l>
<l>Give me back my silver penny</l>
<l>I tossed you for a fee.’ —</l>
<l>They began to scratch their pates,</l>
<l>No longer wagging, purring,</l>
<l>But <ref target="#World02">visibly demurring</ref>,</l>
<l>Grunting and snarling.</l>
<l>One called her proud,</l>
<l>Cross-grained, uncivil;</l>
<l>Their tones waxed loud,</l>
<l>Their looks were evil.</l>
<l>Lashing their tails</l>
<l>They trod and hustled her,</l>
<l>Elbowed and jostled her,</l>
<l><ref target="#World11">Clawed with their nails</ref>,</l>
<l>Barking, mewing, <ref target="#World04">hissing</ref>, mocking,</l>
<l>Tore her gown and soiled her stocking,</l>
<l>Twitched her hair out by the roots,</l>
<l>Stamped upon her tender feet,</l>
<l>Held her hands and squeezed their fruits</l>
<l>Against her mouth to make her eat.</l>
</lg>
<lg>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist01">White and golden Lizzie stood</ref>,</l>
<l>Like a <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies11">lily</ref> in a flood, —</l>
<l>Like a rock of blue-veined stone</l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty06"><ref target="#LoveofChrist01">Lashed by tides obstreperously</ref></ref>, —</l>
<l>Like a beacon left alone</l>
<l>In a <ref target="#OneCertainty06">hoary roaring</ref> sea,</l>
<l>Sending up a golden fire, —</l>
<l>Like a fruit-crowned orange-tree</l>
<l>White with blossoms honey-sweet</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist01">Sore beset by wasp and bee</ref>, —</l>
<l>Like a royal virgin town</l>
<l>Topped with gilded dome and spire</l>
<l>Close <ref target="#OneCertainty06"><ref target="#LoveofChrist01">beleaguered by a fleet</ref></ref></l>
<l>Mad to tug her standard down.</l>
<l>One may lead a horse to water,</l>
<l>Twenty cannot make him drink.</l>
<l>Though the goblins <ref target="#LoveofChrist01">cuffed and caught her</ref>,</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist01">Coaxed and fought her</ref>,</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist01">Bullied and besought her</ref>,</l>
<l><ref target="#World11"><ref target="#LoveofChrist01">Scratched her, pinched her black as ink</ref></ref>,</l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty06"><ref target="#LoveofChrist01">Kicked and knocked her,</ref></ref></l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty06"><ref target="#LoveofChrist01">Mauled and mocked her,</ref></ref></l>
<l>Lizzie uttered not a word;</l>
<l>Would not open lip from lip</l>
<l>Lest they should cram a mouthful in:</l>
<l>But laughed in heart to feel the drip</l>
<l>Of juice that syrupped all her face,</l>
<l>And lodged in dimples of her chin,</l>
<l>And streaked her neck which quaked like curd.</l>
<l>At last the <ref target="#World02">evil people</ref>,</l>
<l>Worn out by her resistance,</l>
<l>Flung back her penny, kicked their fruit</l>
<l>Along whichever road they took,</l>
<l>Not leaving root or stone or shoot;</l>
<l>Some writhed into the ground,</l>
<l>Some dived into the brook</l>
<l>With ring and ripple,</l>
<l>Some scudded on the gale without a sound,</l>
<l>Some vanished in the distance.</l>
<l>In a smart, ache, tingle,</l>
<l>Lizzie went her way;</l>
<l>Knew not was it night or day;</l>
<l>Sprang up the bank, tore thro’ the furze,</l>
<l>Threaded copse and dingle,</l>
<l>And heard her penny jingle</l>
<l>Bouncing in her purse, —</l>
<l>Its bounce was music to her ear.</l>
<l>She ran and ran</l>
<l>As if she feared some goblin man</l>
<l>Dogged her with gibe or curse</l>
<l>Or something worse:</l>
<l>But not one goblin skurried after,</l>
<l>Nor was she pricked by fear;</l>
<l>The kind heart made her windy-paced</l>
<l>That urged her home quite out of breath with haste</l>
<l>And inward laughter.</l>
<l>She cried ‘Laura,’ up the garden,</l>
<l>‘Did you miss me?</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist08">Come and kiss me</ref>.</l>
<l>Never mind my bruises,</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist08">Hug me, kiss me,</ref> suck my juices</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist19 ">Squeezed from goblin fruits for you</ref>,</l>
<l>Goblin pulp and goblin <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">dew</ref>.</l>
<l><ref target="#MattCh26v26">Eat me, drink me, love me</ref>;</l>
<l>Laura, make much of me:</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist19"><ref target="#LoveofChrist05"><ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">For your sake</ref> I have braved the glen</ref></ref></l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist07">And had to do with goblin merchant men</ref>.’</l>
<l>Laura started from her chair,</l>
<l>Flung her arms up in the air,</l>
<l>Clutched her hair:</l>
<l>‘Lizzie, Lizzie, have you tasted</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist19">For my sake the fruit forbidden?</ref></l>
<l>Must <ref target="#MattCh5v15">your light like mine be hidden</ref>,</l>
<l>Your young life like mine be wasted,</l>
<l><ref target="#World14">Undone in mine undoing</ref>,</l>
<l>And ruined in my ruin,</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist09">Thirsty, cankered, goblin-ridden</ref>?’ —</l>
<l>She clung about her sister,</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist08">Kissed and kissed and kissed her:</ref></l>
<l>Tears once again</l>
<l>Refreshed her shrunken eyes,</l>
<l>Dropping like <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">rain</ref></l>
<l>After long sultry drouth;</l>
<l>Shaking with aguish fear, and pain,</l>
<l>She kissed and kissed her with a hungry mouth.</l>
<l>Her lips began to scorch,</l>
<l>That juice was wormwood to her tongue,</l>
<l>She loathed the feast:</l>
<l>Writhing as one possessed she leaped and sung,</l>
<l>Rent all her robe, and wrung</l>
<l>Her hands in lamentable haste,</l>
<l>And beat her breast.</l>
<l>Her locks streamed like the torch</l>
<l>Borne by a racer at full speed,</l>
<l>Or like the mane of horses in their flight,</l>
<l>Or like an eagle when she stems the light</l>
<l>Straight toward the sun,</l>
<l>Or like a caged thing freed,</l>
<l>Or like a flying flag when armies run.</l>
<l>Swift fire spread through her veins, knocked at her heart,</l>
<l>Met the fire smouldering there</l>
<l>And overbore its lesser flame;</l>
<l>She gorged on bitterness without a name:</l>
<l>Ah! fool, to choose such part</l>
<l>Of soul-consuming care!</l>
<l>Sense failed in the mortal strife:</l>
<l>Like the watch-tower of a town</l>
<l>Which an earthquake shatters down,</l>
<l>Like a lightning-stricken mast,</l>
<l>Like a wind-uprooted tree</l>
<l>Spun about,</l>
<l>Like a foam-topped waterspout</l>
<l>Cast down headlong in the sea,</l>
<l>She fell at last;</l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty06">Pleasure past and anguish past</ref>,</l>
<l>Is it death or is it life?</l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty08">Life out of death</ref>.</l>
<l>That night long Lizzie watched by her,</l>
<l>Counted her pulse’s flagging stir,</l>
<l>Felt for her breath,</l>
<l>Held water to her lips, and cooled her face</l>
<l>With tears and fanning leaves:</l>
<l>But when the first birds chirped about their eaves,</l>
<l>And early <ref target="#OneCertainty05">reapers</ref> plodded to the place</l>
<l>Of <ref target="#OneCertainty05">golden sheaves</ref>,</l>
<l>And <ref target="#OneCertainty04"><ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">dew</ref></ref>-wet <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies19">grass</ref></l>
<l><ref target="#OneCertainty04">Bowed in the morning winds so brisk to pass</ref>,</l>
<l>And <ref target="#OneCertainty09">new buds with new day</ref></l>
<l>Opened of cup-like <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies11">lilies</ref> on the stream,</l>
<l>Laura awoke as from a dream,</l>
<l>Laughed in the innocent old way,</l>
<l><ref target="#LoveofChrist08">Hugged Lizzie but not twice or thrice</ref>;</l>
<l>Her gleaming locks showed not one thread of grey,</l>
<l>Her breath was sweet as May</l>
<l>And light danced in her eyes.</l>
</lg>
<lg>
<l>Laura would call the little ones</l>
<l>Days, weeks, months, years</l>
<l>Afterwards, when both were wives</l>
<l>With children of their own;</l>
<l>Their mother-hearts beset with fears,</l>
<l>Their lives bound up in tender lives;</l>
<l>Laura would call the little ones</l>
<l>And tell them of her early prime,</l>
<l>Those pleasant days long gone</l>
<l>Of not-returning time:</l>
<l>Would talk about the haunted glen,</l>
<l>The wicked, quaint fruit-merchant men,</l>
<l>Their fruits <ref target="#LoveofChrist11">like honey to the throat</ref></l>
<l>But poison in the blood;</l>
<l>(Men sell not such in any town:)</l>
<l>Would tell them how her sister stood</l>
<l>In deadly peril to do her good,</l>
<l>And win the fiery <ref target="#ConsidertheLilies22">antidote</ref>:</l>
<l>Then joining hands to little hands</l>
<l>Would bid them cling together,</l>
<l>‘For there is no friend like a sister</l>
<l>In calm or stormy weather;</l>
<l>To cheer one on the tedious way,</l>
<l>To fetch one if one goes astray,</l>
<l>To lift one if one totters down,</l>
<l>To strengthen whilst one stands.’</l>
</lg>
<div type="OtherPoems">
<div type="poem" xml:id="World">
<lg><head>
<title>The World</title></head>
<lg><l n="1" xml:id="World01">[1] By day she woos me, soft, exceeding fair: </l>
<l n="2" xml:id="World02">[2] But all night as the moon so changeth she; </l>
<l n="3" xml:id="World03">[3] Loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy </l>
<l n="4" xml:id="World04">[4] And subtle serpents gliding in her hair.</l>
<l n="5" xml:id="World05">[5] By day she woos me to the outer air, </l>
<l n="6" xml:id="World06">[6] Ripe fruits, sweet flowers, and full satiety:</l>
<l n="7" xml:id="World07">[7] But through the night, a beast she grins at me,</l>
<l n="8" xml:id="World08">[8] A very monster void of love and prayer.</l>
<l n="9" xml:id="World09">[9] By day she stands a lie: by night she stands</l>
<l n="10" xml:id="World10">[10] In all the naked horror of the truth </l>
<l n="11" xml:id="World11">[11] With pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands.</l>
<l n="12" xml:id="World12">[12] Is this a friend indeed; that I should sell </l>
<l n="13" xml:id="World13">[13] My soul to her, give her my life and youth, </l>
<l n="14" xml:id="World14">[14] Till my feet, cloven too, take hold on hell?</l>
</lg>
</lg>
</div>
<div type="poem" xml:id="OneCertainty">
<head><title>One Certainty</title></head>
<lg><l xml:id="OneCertainty01">[1] Vanity of vanities, the Preacher saith, </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty02">[2] All things are vanity. The eye and ear </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty03">[3] Cannot be filled with what they see and hear.</l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty04">[4] Like early dew, or like the sudden breath </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty05">[5] Of wind, or like the grass that withereth, </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty06">[6] Is man, tossed to and fro by hope and fear: </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty07">[7] So little joy hath he, so little cheer, </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty08">[8] Till all things end in the long dust of death. </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty09">[9] To-day is still the same as yesterday, </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty10">[10] To-morrow also even as one of them; </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty11">[11] And there is nothing new under the sun: </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty12">[12] Until the ancient race of Time be run, </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty13">[13] The old thorns shall grow out of the old stem, </l>
<l xml:id="OneCertainty14">[14] And morning shall be cold and twilight grey.</l>
</lg>
</div>
<div type="poem" xml:id="ConsidertheLilies">
<head>
<title>Consider the Lilies</title></head>
<lg><l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies01">[1] Flowers preach to us if we will hear:—</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies02">[2] The rose saith in the dewy morn:</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies03">[3] I am most fair;</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies04">[4] Yet all my loveliness is born</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies05">[5] Upon a thorn.</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies06">[6] The poppy saith amid the corn:</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies07">[7] Let but my scarlet head appear</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies08">[8] And I am held in scorn;</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies09">[9] Yet juice of subtle virtue lies</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies10">[10] Within my cup of curious dyes.</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies11">[11] The lilies say: Behold how we</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies12">[12] Preach without words of purity.</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies13">[13] The violets whisper from the shade</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies14">[14] Which their own leaves have made:</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies15">[15] Men scent our fragrance on the air,</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies16">[16] Yet take no heed</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies17">[17] Of humble lessons we would read.</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies18">[18] But not alone the fairest flowers:</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies19">[19] The merest grass</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies20">[20] Along the roadside where we pass,</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies21">[21] Lichen and moss and sturdy weed,</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies22">[22] Tell of His love who sends the dew,</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies23">[23] The rain and sunshine too,</l>
<l xml:id="ConsidertheLilies24">[24] To nourish one small seed.</l>
</lg>
</div>
<div type="poem" xml:id="LoveofChrist">
<head>
<title>The Love of Christ Which Passeth Knowledge</title></head>
<lg>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist01">[1] I bore with thee long weary days and nights,</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist02">[2] Through many pangs of heart, through many tears;</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist03">[3] I bore with thee, thy hardness, coldness, slights,</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist04">[4] For three and thirty years.</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist05">[5] Who else had dared for thee what I have dared?</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist06">[6] I plunged the depth most deep from bliss above;</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist07">[7] I not My flesh, I not My spirit spared:</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist08">[8] Give thou Me love for love.</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist09">[9] For thee I thirsted in the daily drouth,</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist10">[10] For thee I trembled in the nightly frost:</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist11">[11] Much sweeter thou than honey to My mouth:</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist12">[12] Why wilt thou still be lost?</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist13">[13] I bore thee on My shoulders and rejoiced:</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist14">[14] Men only marked upon My shoulders borne</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist15">[15] The branding cross; and shouted hungry-voiced,</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist16">[16] Or wagged their heads in scorn.</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist17">[17] Thee did nails grave upon My hands, thy name</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist18">[18] Did thorns for frontlets stamp between Mine eyes:</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist19">[19] I, Holy One, put on thy guilt and shame;</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist20">[20] I, God, Priest, Sacrifice.</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist21">[21] A thief upon My right hand and My left;</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist22">[22] Six hours alone, athirst, in misery:</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist23">[23] At length in death one smote My heart and cleft</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist24">[24] A hiding-place for thee.</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist25">[25] Nailed to the racking cross, than bed of down</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist26">[26] More dear, whereon to stretch Myself and sleep:</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist27">[27] So did I win a kingdom,—share my crown;</l>
<l xml:id="LoveofChrist28">[28] A harvest,—come and reap.</l>
</lg>
</div>
<div type="poem" xml:id="BetterResur">
<head>
<title>A Better Resurrection</title></head>
<lg>
<l xml:id="BetterResur01">[1] I have no wit, no words, no tears;</l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur02">[2] My heart within me like a stone </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur03">[3] Is numb'd too much for hopes or fears; </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur04">[4] Look right, look left, I dwell alone; </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur05">[5] I lift mine eyes, but dimm'd with grief </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur06">[6] No everlasting hills I see; </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur07">[7] My life is in the falling leaf: </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur08">[8] O Jesus, quicken me. </l></lg>
<lg><l xml:id="BetterResur09">[9] My life is like a faded leaf, </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur10">[10] My harvest dwindled to a husk: </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur11">[11] Truly my life is void and brief </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur12">[12] And tedious in the barren dusk;</l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur13">[13] My life is like a frozen thing,</l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur14">[14] No bud nor greenness can I see: </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur15">[15] Yet rise it shall, the sap of Spring; </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur16">[16] O Jesus, rise in me.</l> </lg>
<lg><l xml:id="BetterResur17">[17] My life is like a broken bowl, </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur18">[18] A broken bowl that cannot hold</l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur19">[19] One drop of water for my soul </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur20">[20] Or cordial in the searching cold; </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur21">[21] Cast in the fire the perish'd thing;</l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur22">[22] Melt and remould it, till it be </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur23">[23] A royal cup for Him, my King: </l>
<l xml:id="BetterResur24">[24] O Jesus, drink of me.</l></lg>
</div>
<div type="poem" xml:id="Symbols">
<head> <title>Symbols</title></head>
<lg><l xml:id="Symbols01">[1] I watched a rosebud very long</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols02">[2] Brought on by dew and sun and shower,</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols03">[3] Waiting to see the perfect flower:</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols04">[4] Then, when I thought it should be strong,</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols05">[5] It opened at the matin hour</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols06">[6] And fell at evensong.</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols07">[7] I watched a nest from day to day,</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols08">[8] A green nest full of pleasant shade,</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols09">[9] Wherein three speckled eggs were laid:</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols10">[10] But when they should have hatched in May,</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols11">[11] The two old birds had grown afraid</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols12">[12] Or tired, and flew away.</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols13">[13] Then in my wrath I broke the bough</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols14">[14] That I had tended so with care,</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols15">[15] Hoping its scent should fill the air;</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols16">[16] I crushed the eggs, not heeding how</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols17">[17] Their ancient promise had been fair:</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols18">[18] I would have vengeance now.</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols19">[19] But the dead branch spoke from the sod,</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols20">[20] And the eggs answered me again:</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols21">[21] Because we failed dost thou complain?</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols22">[22] Is thy wrath just? And what if God,</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols23">[23] Who waiteth for thy fruits in vain,</l>
<l xml:id="Symbols24">[24] Should also take the rod?</l>
</lg>
</div>
<div type="poem" xml:id="Amen">
<head>
<title>Amen</title></head>
<lg><l xml:id="Amen01">[1] It is over. What is over?</l>
<l xml:id="Amen02">[2] Nay, now much is over truly! —</l>
<l xml:id="Amen03">[3] Harvest days we toiled to sow for;</l>
<l xml:id="Amen04">[4] Now the sheaves are gathered newly,</l>
<l xml:id="Amen05">[5] Now the wheat is garnered duly.</l>
<l xml:id="Amen06">[6] It is finished. What is finished?</l>
<l xml:id="Amen07">[7] Much is finished known or unknown:</l>
<l xml:id="Amen08">[8] Lives are finished; time diminished;</l>
<l xml:id="Amen09">[9] Was the fallow field left unsown?</l>
<l xml:id="Amen10">[10] Will these buds be always unblown?</l>
<l xml:id="Amen11">[11] It suffices. What suffices?</l>
<l xml:id="Amen12">[12] All suffices reckoned rightly:</l>
<l xml:id="Amen13">[13] Spring shall bloom where now the ice is,</l>
<l xml:id="Amen14">[14] Roses make the bramble sightly,</l>
<l xml:id="Amen15">[15] And the quickening sun shine brightly,</l>
<l xml:id="Amen16">[16] And the latter wind blow lightly,</l>
<l xml:id="Amen17">[17] And my garden teem with spices.</l>
</lg>
</div>
<div type="BibleVerse" xml:id="IsaCh55v1">
<head><title>Isaiah 55:1</title></head>
<ab>Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yeah, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.</ab>
</div>
</div>
<div type="BibleVerse" xml:id="DeutCh32v13">
<head><title>Deuteronomy 32:13</title></head>
<ab>He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.</ab>
</div>
<div type="BibleVerse" xml:id="MattCh26v26">
<head><title>Matthew 26:26</title></head>
<ab>And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.</ab>
</div>
<div type="BibleVerse" xml:id="MattCh5v15">
<head><title>Matthew 5:15</title></head>
<ab>Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.</ab>
</div>
</body>
<figure>
<graphic url="55.jpg"/>
<head>"Golden Head By Golden Head" -- Title Page of Goblin Market and Other Poems</head>
<figDesc>Sisters Laura and Lizzie sleep in each others' arms as goblins prance with fruit in the background.</figDesc>
</figure>
<figure>
<graphic url="56.jpg"/>
<head>"Buy From Us With A Golden Curl" -- Frontispiece of Goblin Market and Other Poems</head>
<figDesc>Laura cuts a lock of her hair to pay the goblins for their fruit.</figDesc>
</figure>
<figure>
<graphic url="9.jpg"/>
<head>Emblem 39 of Herman Hugo's Pia Desideria (1624)</head>
<figDesc>A winged figure whose ankle is chained to an orb stretches her hand to an angelic figure in the sky.</figDesc>
</figure>
<figure>
<graphic url="11.jpg"/>
<head>Emblem 40 of Herman Hugo's Pia Desideria (1624)</head>
<figDesc>A winged figure turns a key in the lock of a human-sized birdcage in which someone is imprisoned.</figDesc>
</figure>
</text>
</TEI>
