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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365691" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Courting Disaster</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">I was twenty-three when I saw her first, <br>Without a word of a lie, <br>She had wandered into the woods by me<br>With a basket, held on high, <br>Her auburn hair reflected the sun<br>And she flashed me a dazzling smile, <br>That turned my head to the way she led<br>As I followed her, over the stile.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She skipped along at a steady pace<br>Weaved in and out through the trees, <br>Collected the broad-rimmed mushrooms there<br>As she stopped, and fell to her knees, <br>Her dress flared out as it caught the wind<br>And her hair was floated wide, <br>I hid by a tree, and held my breath<br>As I thought of her, as a bride.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She had such a look of innocence, <br>Was free as the birds of the air, <br>The legs and the grace of a peasant girl<br>Brought up in the great out-there, <br>She ran right up to a Woodsman's house<br>That was hidden by branch and vine, <br>Then danced right in through the open door, <br>And then I knew; she was mine! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">The door was closed when I finally knocked<br>But I heard a terrible moan, <br>And minutes later the door unlocked, <br>In the hall stood a fusty crone, <br>She stared at me through her hoary eyes<br>With never a hint of grace, <br>‘What do you want? ' she growled at me, <br>For the shock must have shown in my face.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">‘That girl, who danced in a moment back, <br>I'm here to discover her name.'<br>‘There is no girl, ' said the ancient hack, <br>‘You'd better return where you came! '<br>‘I saw her enter, I must insist, <br>I'll not be gulled by your lies! '<br>‘That girl's been dead for a long time back, <br>You'd better leave now, if you're wise! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She slammed the door in my face just then<br>So I wandered back through the trees, <br>A raincloud covered the midday sun<br>And I felt the chill of a breeze, <br>The rain came down as I walked back home, <br>Climbed over the ricketty stile, <br>Was drenched to the skin as I wandered in, <br>And thought to resort to guile.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For days I lingered by that old track, <br>The place that I'd seen her first, <br>I felt so miserable, holding back, <br>As I thought, and feared for the worst, <br>What if the girl was a sprite, who'd died, <br>Just as the old crone said? <br>Try as I might, I couldn't believe, <br>Nor get her out of my head.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I finally went to the Woodsman's house<br>And I hid in a patch by the vine, <br>When suddenly out of the door came tripping<br>The girl, with her eyes a-shine, <br>She skipped away with her basket, filled<br>With linen and loaves and cheese, <br>And I caught her then in a shady glade<br>As she stopped, and fell to her knees.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">‘I hoped you'd come, ' were the words she said<br>As she laid a cloth on the ground, <br>‘I have to hide from that grey old witch<br>So I go where I'll never be found.'<br>She broke the bread and she poured the wine<br>And we ate and drank in the glade, <br>My mind was filled with a sudden chill<br>But I thought of fun in the shade.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">‘So when are you going to kiss me, then? '<br>She said when we finished our feast, <br>‘I've fed your animal spirits, now, <br>It's time I was paid, at least! '<br>I kissed her there in the shady glade<br>And we tumbled there in the leaves, <br>Then I fell asleep, and she'd gone when I<br>Awoke, and the heart, it grieves.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I stumbled home, but was feeling faint<br>I had aches and pains in my head, <br>I staggered through to the bedroom, then<br>I found her asleep in my bed, <br>She woke and sat, and she stared at me<br>But her face had begun to change, <br>There were lines and wrinkles around her eyes<br>And her hair was grey with age.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">‘I need you now that my time is short, <br>Come and rest your weary head, '<br>I caught a glimpse in the mirror then<br>And it filled me full of dread, <br>For the face of a man of middle age<br>Stared back at me from the glass, <br>‘Just what have to done to me? ' I said…<br>‘Do you really have to ask? '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">‘I fed on your animal needs, and you<br>Gave something to set me free, <br>If you want me to be a bright young thing<br>Then you must replenish me.'<br>I saw she aged by the minute there<br>And she soon let out a moan, <br>For lying in bed was a figure of dread, <br>That hoary old witch, the crone! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I'm far too weak to get out of bed, <br>But Elli goes out on her own, <br>She carries her basket into the wood<br>For the mushrooms she eats alone, <br>My beard is grey and I dread each day<br>As she bleeds my life from its core, <br>But she's as lovely as ever she was<br>At a hundred and twenty-four! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">26 October 2012</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=David+Lewis+Paget">David Lewis Paget</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365691" data-title="Courting Disaster de David Lewis Paget" data-description="I was twenty-three when I saw her first, 
Without a word of a lie, 
She had wandered into the woods by me
With a basket, held on high, 
Her auburn hair reflected the sun
And she flashed me a dazzling smile, 
That turned my head to the way she led
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