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
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
.
GOBLIN MARKET / 1475
White with blossoms honey-sweet
Sore beset by wasp and bee,?
Like a royal virgin town
Topped with gilded dome and spire 420 Close beleaguered by a fleet
Mad to tug her standard down.
One may lead a horse to water,
Twenty cannot make him drink.
'
Tho the goblins cuffed and caught her,
425 Coaxed and fought her,
Bullied and besought her,
Scratched her, pinched her black as ink,
Kicked and knocked her,
Mauled and mocked her,
430 Lizzie uttered not a word;
Would not open lip from lip
Lest they should cram a mouthful in:
But laughed in heart to feel the drip
Of juice that syruped all her face,
435 And lodged in dimples of her chin, And streaked her neck which quaked like curd.
At last the evil people
Worn out by her resistance
Flung back her penny, kicked their fruit
440 Along whichever road they took,
Not leaving root or stone or shoot;
Some writhed into the ground,
Some dived into the brook
With ring and ripple,
445 Some scudded on the gale without a sound,
Some vanished in the distance.
In a smart, ache, tingle,
Lizzie went her way;
Knew not was it night or day;
450 Sprang up the bank, tore thro' the furze,
