GOBLIN MARKET Covered close lest they should look; Laura reared her glossy head, And whispered like the restless brook: Morning and evening 'Look, Lizzie, look, Lizzie, Maids heard the goblins cry: Down the glen tramp little men. 'Come buy our orchard fruits, One hauls a basket, Come buy, come buy: One bears a plate, Apples and quinces, One lugs a golden dish Lemons and oranges, Of many pounds weight. Plump unpecked cherries, How fair the vine must grow 60 Melons and raspberries, Whose grapes are so luscious; Bloom-down-cheeked peaches, How warm the wind must blow Swart-headed mulberries, 10 Through those fruit bushes.' Wild free-born cranberries, 'No,' said Lizzie, 'No, no, no; Crab-apples, dewberries, Their offers should not charm us, Pine-apples, blackberries, Their evil gifts would harm us.' Apricots, strawberries;-- She thrust a dimpled finger All ripe together In each ear, shut eyes and ran: In summer weather,-- Curious Laura chose to linger Morns that pass by, Wondering at each merchant man. 70 Fair eves that fly; One had a cat's face, Come buy, come buy: One whisked a tail, Our grapes fresh from the vine, 20 One tramped at a rat's pace, Pomegranates full and fine, One crawled like a snail, Dates and sharp bullaces, One like a wombat prowled obtuse and furry, Rare pears and greengages, One like a ratel tumbled hurry skurry. Damsons and bilberries, She heard a voice like voice of doves Taste them and try: Cooing all together: Currants and gooseberries, They sounded kind and full of loves Bright-fire-like barberries, In the pleasant weather. 80 Figs to fill your mouth, Citrons from the South, Laura stretched her gleaming neck Sweet to tongue and sound to eye; 30 Like a rush-imbedded swan, Come buy, come buy.' Like a lily from the beck, Like a moonlit poplar branch, Evening by evening Like a vessel at the launch Among the brookside rushes, When its last restraint is gone. Laura bowed her head to hear, Lizzie veiled her blushes: Backwards up the mossy glen Crouching close together Turned and trooped the goblin men, In the cooling weather, With their shrill repeated cry, With clasping arms and cautioning lips, 'Come buy, come buy.' 90 With tingling cheeks and finger tips. When they reached where Laura was 'Lie close,' Laura said, 40 They stood stock still upon the moss, Pricking up her golden head: Leering at each other, 'We must not look at goblin men, Brother with queer brother; We must not buy their fruits: Signalling each other, Who knows upon what soil they fed Brother with sly brother. Their hungry thirsty roots?' One set his basket down, 'Come buy,' call the goblins One reared his plate; Hobbling down the glen. One began to weave a crown 'Oh,' cried Lizzie, 'Laura, Laura, Of tendrils, leaves, and rough nuts brown You should not peep at goblin men.' 100 Lizzie covered up her eyes, 50 (Men sell not such in any town); Where summer ripens at all hours? One heaved the golden weight But ever in the noonlight Of dish and fruit to offer her: She pined and pined away; 'Come buy, come buy,' was still their cry. Sought them by night and day, Laura stared but did not stir, Found them no more, but dwindled and grew grey; Longed but had no money: Then fell with the first snow, The whisk-tailed merchant bade her taste While to this day no grass will grow In tones as smooth as honey, Where she lies low: The cat-faced purr'd, I planted daisies there a year ago 160 The rat-faced spoke a word 110 That never blow. Of welcome, and the snail-paced even was heard; You should not loiter so.' One parrot-voiced and jolly 'Nay, hush,' said Laura: Cried 'Pretty Goblin' still for 'Pretty Polly;'-- 'Nay, hush, my sister: One whistled like a bird. I ate and ate my fill, Yet my mouth waters still; But sweet-tooth Laura spoke in haste: To-morrow night I will 'Good folk, I have no coin; Buy more:' and kissed her: To take were to purloin: 'Have done with sorrow; I have no copper in my purse, I'll bring you plums to-morrow 170 I have no silver either, Fresh on their mother twigs, And all my gold is on the furze 120 Cherries worth getting; That shakes in windy weather You cannot think what figs Above the rusty heather.' My teeth have met in, 'You have much gold upon your head,' What melons icy-cold They answered all together: Piled on a dish of gold 'Buy from us with a golden curl.' Too huge for me to hold, She clipped a precious golden lock, What peaches with a velvet nap, She dropped a tear more rare than pearl, Pellucid grapes without one seed: Then sucked their fruit globes fair or red: Odorous indeed must be the mead Sweeter than honey from the rock, 180 Stronger than man-rejoicing wine, 130 Whereon they grow, and pure the wave they drink Clearer than water flowed that juice; With lilies at the brink, She never tasted such before, And sugar-sweet their sap.' How should it cloy with length of use? She sucked and sucked and sucked the more Golden head by golden head, Fruits which that unknown orchard bore; Like two pigeons in one nest She sucked until her lips were sore; Folded in each other's wings, Then flung the emptied rinds away They lay down in their curtained bed: But gathered up one kernel stone, Like two blossoms on one stem, And knew not was it night or day Like two flakes of new-fall'n snow, As she turned home alone. 140 Like two wands of ivory 190 Tipped with gold for awful kings. Lizzie met her at the gate Moon and stars gazed in at them, Full of wise upbraidings: Wind sang to them lullaby, 'Dear, you should not stay so late, Lumbering owls forbore to fly, Twilight is not good for maidens; Not a bat flapped to and fro Should not loiter in the glen Round their rest: In the haunts of goblin men. Cheek to cheek and breast to breast Do you not remember Jeanie, Locked together in one nest. How she met them in the moonlight, Took their gifts both choice and many, Early in the morning Ate their fruits and wore their flowers 150 When the first cock crowed his warning, Plucked from bowers 200 Neat like bees, as sweet and busy, Though this is summer weather, 250 Laura rose with Lizzie: Put out the lights and drench us through; Fetched in honey, milked the cows, Then if we lost our way what should we do?' Aired and set to rights the house, Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat, Laura turned cold as stone Cakes for dainty mouths to eat, To find her sister heard that cry alone, Next churned butter, whipped up cream, That goblin cry, Fed their poultry, sat and sewed; 'Come buy our fruits, come buy.' Talked as modest maidens should: Must she then buy no more such dainty fruit? Lizzie with an open heart, 210 Must she no more such succous pasture find, Laura in an absent dream, Gone deaf and blind? One content, one sick in part; Her tree of life drooped from the root: 260 One warbling for the mere bright day's delight, She said not one word in her heart's sore ache; One longing for the night. But peering thro' the dimness, nought discerning, Trudged home, her pitcher dripping all the way; At length slow evening came: So crept to bed, and lay They went with pitchers to the reedy brook; Silent till Lizzie slept; Lizzie most placid in her look, Then sat up in a passionate yearning, Laura most like a leaping flame. And gnashed her teeth for baulked desire, and wept They drew the gurgling water from its deep; As if her heart would break. Lizzie plucked purple and rich golden flags, 220 Day after day, night after night, Then turning homeward said: 'The sunset flushes Laura kept watch in vain 270 Those furthest loftiest crags; In sullen silence of exceeding pain. Come, Laura, not another maiden lags, She never caught again the goblin cry: No wilful squirrel wags, 'Come buy, come buy;'-- The beasts and birds are fast asleep.' She never spied the goblin men But Laura loitered still among the rushes Hawking their fruits along the glen: And said the bank was steep. But when the noon waxed bright Her hair grew thin and grey; And said the hour was early still She dwindled, as the fair full moon doth turn The dew not fall'n, the wind not chill: To swift decay and burn Listening ever, but not catching 230 Her fire away. 280 The customary cry, 'Come buy, come buy,' One day remembering her kernel-stone With its iterated jingle She set it by a wall that faced the south; Of sugar-baited words: Dewed it with tears, hoped for a root, Not for all her watching Watched for a waxing shoot, Once discerning even one goblin But there came none; Racing, whisking, tumbling, hobbling; It never saw the sun, Let alone the herds It never felt the trickling moisture run: That used to tramp along the glen, While with sunk eyes and faded mouth In groups or single, 240 She dreamed of melons, as a traveller sees Of brisk fruit-merchant men. False waves in desert drouth 290 With shade of leaf-crowned trees, Till Lizzie urged, 'O Laura, come; And burns the thirstier in the sandful breeze. I hear the fruit-call but I dare not look: You should not loiter longer at this brook: She no more swept the house, Come with me home. Tended the fowls or cows, The stars rise, the moon bends her arc, Fetched honey, kneaded cakes of wheat, Each glowworm winks her spark, Brought water from the brook: Let us get home before the night grows dark: But sat down listless in the chimney-nook For clouds may gather And would not eat. Squeezed and caressed her: Tender Lizzie could not bear Stretched up their dishes, 350 To watch her sister's cankerous care 300 Panniers, and plates: Yet not to share. 'Look at our apples She night and morning Russet and dun, Caught the goblins' cry: Bob at our cherries, 'Come buy our orchard fruits, Bite at our peaches, Come buy, come buy:'-- Citrons and dates, Beside the brook, along the glen, Grapes for the asking, She heard the tramp of goblin men, Pears red with basking The voice and stir Out in the sun, Poor Laura could not hear; Plums on their twigs; 360 Longed to buy fruit to comfort her, 310 Pluck them and suck them, But feared to pay too dear. Pomegranates, figs.'-- She thought of Jeanie in her grave, Who should have been a bride; 'Good folk,' said Lizzie, But who for joys brides hope to have Mindful of Jeanie: Fell sick and died 'Give me much and many:'-- In her gay prime, Held out her apron, In earliest Winter time Tossed them her penny. With the first glazing rime, 'Nay, take a seat with us, With the first snow-fall of crisp Winter time. Honour and eat with us,' They answered grinning: 370 Till Laura dwindling 320 'Our feast is but beginning. Seemed knocking at Death's door: Night yet is early, Then Lizzie weighed no more Warm and dew-pearly, Better and worse; Wakeful and starry: But put a silver penny in her purse, Such fruits as these Kissed Laura, crossed the heath with clumps of furze No man can carry; At twilight, halted by the brook: Half their bloom would fly, And for the first time in her life Half their dew would dry, Began to listen and look. Half their flavour would pass by. Sit down and feast with us, 380 Laughed every goblin Be welcome guest with us, When they spied her peeping: 330 Cheer you and rest with us.'-- Came towards her hobbling, 'Thank you,' said Lizzie: 'But one waits Flying, running, leaping, At home alone for me: Puffing and blowing, So without further parleying, Chuckling, clapping, crowing, If you will not sell me any Clucking and gobbling, Of your fruits though much and many, Mopping and mowing, Give me back my silver penny Full of airs and graces, I tossed you for a fee.'-- Pulling wry faces, They began to scratch their pates, 390 Demure grimaces, No longer wagging, purring, Cat-like and rat-like, 340 But visibly demurring, Ratel- and wombat-like, Grunting and snarling. Snail-paced in a hurry, One called her proud, Parrot-voiced and whistler, Cross-grained, uncivil; Helter skelter, hurry skurry, Their tones waxed loud, Chattering like magpies, Their looks were evil. Fluttering like pigeons, Lashing their tails Gliding like fishes,-- They trod and hustled her, Hugged her and kissed her: Elbowed and jostled her, 400 Clawed with their nails, Sprang up the bank, tore thro' the furze, Barking, mewing, hissing, mocking, 450 Tore her gown and soiled her stocking, Threaded copse and dingle, Twitched her hair out by the roots, And heard her penny jingle Stamped upon her tender feet, Bouncing in her purse,-- Held her hands and squeezed their fruits Its bounce was music to her ear. Against her mouth to make her eat. She ran and ran As if she feared some goblin man White and golden Lizzie stood, Dogged her with gibe or curse Like a lily in a flood,-- Or something worse: Like a rock of blue-veined stone 410 But not one goblin skurried after, Lashed by tides obstreperously,-- Nor was she pricked by fear; 460 Like a beacon left alone The kind heart made her windy-paced In a hoary roaring sea, That urged her home quite out of breath with haste Sending up a golden fire,-- And inward laughter. Like a fruit-crowned orange-tree White with blossoms honey-sweet She cried 'Laura,' up the garden, Sore beset by wasp and bee,-- 'Did you miss me? Like a royal virgin town Come and kiss me. Topped with gilded dome and spire Never mind my bruises, Close beleaguered by a fleet 420 Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices Mad to tug her standard down. Squeezed from goblin fruits for you, Goblin pulp and goblin dew. 470 One may lead a horse to water, Eat me, drink me, love me; Twenty cannot make him drink. Laura, make much of me: Though the goblins cuffed and caught her, For your sake I have braved the glen Coaxed and fought her, And had to do with goblin merchant men.' Bullied and besought her, Scratched her, pinched her black as ink, Laura started from her chair, Kicked and knocked her, Flung her arms up in the air, Mauled and mocked her, Clutched her hair: Lizzie uttered not a word; 430 'Lizzie, Lizzie, have you tasted Would not open lip from lip For my sake the fruit forbidden? Lest they should cram a mouthful in: Must your light like mine be hidden, 480 But laughed in heart to feel the drip Your young life like mine be wasted, Of juice that syrupped all her face, Undone in mine undoing, And lodged in dimples of her chin, And ruined in my ruin, And streaked her neck which quaked like curd. Thirsty, cankered, goblin-ridden?'-- At last the evil people, She clung about her sister, Worn out by her resistance, Kissed and kissed and kissed her: Flung back her penny, kicked their fruit Tears once again Along whichever road they took, 440 Refreshed her shrunken eyes, Not leaving root or stone or shoot; Dropping like rain Some writhed into the ground, After long sultry drouth; 490 Some dived into the brook Shaking with aguish fear, and pain, With ring and ripple, She kissed and kissed her with a hungry mouth. Some scudded on the gale without a sound, Some vanished in the distance. Her lips began to scorch, That juice was wormwood to her tongue, In a smart, ache, tingle, She loathed the feast: Lizzie went her way; Writhing as one possessed she leaped and sung, Knew not was it night or day; Rent all her robe, and wrung Her hands in lamentable haste, And beat her breast. With children of their own; Her locks streamed like the torch 500 Their mother-hearts beset with fears, Borne by a racer at full speed, Their lives bound up in tender lives; Or like the mane of horses in their flight, Laura would call the little ones Or like an eagle when she stems the light And tell them of her early prime, Straight toward the sun, Those pleasant days long gone 550 Or like a caged thing freed, Of not-returning time: Or like a flying flag when armies run. Would talk about the haunted glen, The wicked, quaint fruit-merchant men, Swift fire spread through her veins, knocked at her Their fruits like honey to the throat heart, But poison in the blood; Met the fire smouldering there (Men sell not such in any town:) And overbore its lesser flame; Would tell them how her sister stood She gorged on bitterness without a name: In deadly peril to do her good, 510 And win the fiery antidote: Ah! fool, to choose such part Then joining hands to little hands 560 Of soul-consuming care! Would bid them cling together, Sense failed in the mortal strife: 'For there is no friend like a sister Like the watch-tower of a town In calm or stormy weather; Which an earthquake shatters down, To cheer one on the tedious way, Like a lightning-stricken mast, To fetch one if one goes astray, Like a wind-uprooted tree To lift one if one totters down, Spun about, To strengthen whilst one stands.' Like a foam-topped waterspout Cast down headlong in the sea, 520 She fell at last; Pleasure past and anguish past, Is it death or is it life?

Life out of death. That night long Lizzie watched by her, Counted her pulse's flagging stir, Felt for her breath, Held water to her lips, and cooled her face With tears and fanning leaves: But when the first birds chirped about their eaves, 530 And early reapers plodded to the place Of golden sheaves, And dew-wet grass Bowed in the morning winds so brisk to pass, And new buds with new day Opened of cup-like lilies on the stream, Laura awoke as from a dream, Laughed in the innocent old way, Hugged Lizzie but not twice or thrice; Her gleaming locks showed not one thread of grey, 540 Her breath was sweet as May And light danced in her eyes.

Days, weeks, months, years Afterwards, when both were wives