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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=538814" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Goldilocks And Goldilocks</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">It was Goldilocks woke up in the morn<br>At the first of the shearing of the corn.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There stood his mother on the hearth<br>And of new-leased wheat was little dearth.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There stood his sisters by the quern,<br>For the high-noon cakes they needs must earn.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O tell me Goldilocks my son,<br>Why hast thou coloured raiment on?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Why should I wear the hodden grey<br>When I am light of heart to-day?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O tell us, brother, why ye wear<br>In reaping-tide the scarlet gear?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Why hangeth the sharp sword at thy side<br>When through the land ’tis the hook goes wide?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Gay-clad am I that men may know<br>The freeman’s son where’er I go.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The grinded sword at side I bear<br>Lest I the dastard’s word should hear.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O tell me Goldilocks my son,<br>Of whither away thou wilt be gone?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“The morn is fair and the world is wide<br>And here no more will I abide.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O Brother, when wilt thou come again?”<br>“The autumn drought, and the winter rain,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The frost and the snow, and St. David’s wind,<br>All these that were time out of mind,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All these a many times shall be<br>Ere the Upland Town again I see.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O Goldilocks my son, farewell,<br>As thou wendest the world ’twixt home and hell!”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O brother Goldilocks, farewell,<br>Come back with a tale for men to tell!”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So ’tis wellaway for Goldilocks,<br>As he left the land of the wheaten shocks.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He’s gotten him far from the Upland Town,<br>And he’s gone by Dale and he’s gone by Down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He’s come to the wild-wood dark and drear,<br>Where never the bird’s song doth he hear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He has slept in the moonless wood and dim<br>With never a voice to comfort him.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He has risen up under the little light<br>Where the noon is as dark as the summer night.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Six days therein has he walked alone<br>Till his scrip was bare and his meat was done.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">On the seventh morn in the mirk, mirk wood,<br>He saw sight that he deemed was good.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">It was as one sees a flower a-bloom<br>In the dusky heat of a shuttered room.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He deemed the fair thing far aloof,<br>And would go and put it to the proof.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But the very first step he made from the place<br>He met a maiden face to face.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Face to face, and so close was she<br>That their lips met soft and lovingly.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sweet-mouthed she was, and fair he wist;<br>And again in the darksome wood they kissed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then first in the wood her voice he heard,<br>As sweet as the song of the summer bird.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O thou fair man with the golden head,<br>What is the name of thee?” she said.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“My name is Goldilocks,” said he;<br>“O sweet-breathed, what is the name of thee?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O Goldilocks the Swain,” she said,<br>“My name is Goldilocks the Maid.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He spake, “Love me as I love thee,<br>And Goldilocks one flesh shall be.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She said, “Fair man, I wot not how<br>Thou lovest, but I love thee now.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But come a little hence away,<br>That I may see thee in the day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For hereby is a wood-lawn clear<br>And good for awhile for us it were.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Therewith she took him by the hand<br>And led him into the lighter land.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There on the grass they sat adown.<br>Clad she was in a kirtle brown.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In all the world was never maid<br>So fair, so evilly arrayed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No shoes upon her feet she had<br>And scantly were her shoulders clad;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Through her brown kirtle’s rents full wide<br>Shone out the sleekness of her side.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">An old scrip hung about her neck,<br>Nought of her raiment did she reck.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No shame of all her rents had she;<br>She gazed upon him eagerly.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She leaned across the grassy space<br>And put her hands about his face.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She said: “O hunger-pale art thou,<br>Yet shalt thou eat though I hunger now.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She took him apples from her scrip,<br>She kissed him, cheek and chin and lip.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She took him cakes of woodland bread:<br>“Whiles am I hunger-pinched,” she said.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She had a gourd and a pilgrim shell;<br>She took him water from the well.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She stroked his breast and his scarlet gear;<br>She spake, “How brave thou art and dear!”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Her arms about him did she wind;<br>He felt her body dear and kind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O love,” she said, “now two are one,<br>And whither hence shall we be gone?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Shall we fare further than this wood,”<br>Quoth he, “I deem it dear and good?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She shook her head, and laughed, and spake;<br>“Rise up! For thee, not me, I quake.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Had she been minded me to slay<br>Sure she had done it ere to-day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But thou: this hour the crone shall know<br>That thou art come, her very foe.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No minute more on tidings wait,<br>Lest e’en this minute be too late.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She led him from the sunlit green,<br>Going sweet-stately as a queen.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There in the dusky wood, and dim,<br>As forth they went, she spake to him:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Fair man, few people have I seen<br>Amidst this world of woodland green:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But I would have thee tell me now<br>If there be many such as thou.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Betwixt the mountains and the sea,<br>O Sweet, be many such,” said he.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Athwart the glimmering air and dim<br>With wistful eyes she looked on him.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“But ne’er an one so shapely made<br>Mine eyes have looked upon,” she said.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He kissed her face, and cried in mirth:<br>“Where hast thou dwelt then on the earth?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Ever,” she said, “I dwell alone<br>With a hard-handed cruel crone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And of this crone am I the thrall<br>To serve her still in bower and hall;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And fetch and carry in the wood,<br>And do whate’er she deemeth good.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But whiles a sort of folk there come<br>And seek my mistress at her home;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But such-like are they to behold<br>As make my very blood run cold.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oft have I thought, if there be none<br>On earth save these, would all were done!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Forsooth, I knew it was nought so,<br>But that fairer folk on earth did grow.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But fain and full is the heart in me<br>To know that folk are like to thee.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then hand in hand they stood awhile<br>Till her tears rose up beneath his smile.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And he must fold her to his breast<br>To give her heart a while of rest.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Till sundered she and gazed about,<br>And bent her brows as one in doubt.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She spake: “The wood is growing thin,<br>Into the full light soon shall we win.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now crouch we that we be not seen,<br>Under yon bramble-bushes green.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Under the bramble-bush they lay<br>Betwixt the dusk and the open day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O Goldilocks my love, look forth<br>And let me know what thou seest of worth.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He said: “I see a house of stone,<br>A castle excellently done.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Yea,” quoth she, “There doth the mistress dwell<br>What next thou seest shalt thou tell.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“What lookest thou to see come forth?”<br>“Maybe a white bear of the North.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Then shall my sharp sword lock his mouth.”<br>“Nay,” she said, “or a worm of the South.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Then shall my sword his hot blood cool.”<br>“Nay, or a whelming poison-pool.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“The trees its swelling flood shall stay,<br>And thrust its venomed lip away.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Nay, it may be a wild-fire flash<br>To burn thy lovely limbs to ash.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“On mine own hallows shall I call,<br>And dead its flickering flame shall fall.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O Goldilocks my love, I fear<br>That ugly death shall seek us here.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Look forth, O Goldilocks my love,<br>That I thine hardy heart may prove.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">What cometh down the stone-wrought stair<br>That leadeth up to the castle fair?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Adown the doorward stair of stone<br>There cometh a woman all alone.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Yea, that forsooth shall my mistress be:<br>O Goldilocks, what like is she?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O fair she is of her array,<br>As hitherward she wends her way.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Unlike her wont is that indeed:<br>Is she not foul beneath her weed?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O nay, nay! But most wondrous fair<br>Of all the women earth doth bear.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O Goldilocks, my heart, my heart!<br>Woe, woe! for now we drift apart.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But up he sprang from the bramble-side,<br>And “O thou fairest one!” he cried:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And forth he ran that Queen to meet,<br>And fell before her gold-clad feet.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">About his neck her arms she cast,<br>And into the fair-built house they passed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And under the bramble-bushes lay<br>Unholpen, Goldilocks the may.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thenceforth a while of time there wore,<br>And Goldilocks came forth no more.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Throughout that house he wandered wide,<br>Both up and down, from side to side.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But never he saw an evil crone,<br>But a full fair Queen on a golden throne.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Never a barefoot maid did he see,<br>But a gay and gallant company.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He sat upon the golden throne,<br>And beside him sat the Queen alone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Kind she was, as she loved him well,<br>And many a merry tale did tell.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But nought he laughed, nor spake again,<br>For all his life was waste and vain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Cold was his heart, and all afraid<br>To think on Goldilocks the Maid.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Withal now was the wedding dight<br>When he should wed that lady bright.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The night was gone, and the day was up<br>When they should drink the bridal cup.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And he sat at the board beside the Queen,<br>Amidst of a guest-folk well beseen.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But scarce was midmorn on the hall,<br>When down did the mirk of midnight fall.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then up and down from the board they ran,<br>And man laid angry hand on man.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There was the cry, and the laughter shrill,<br>And every manner word of ill.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Whoso of men had hearkened it,<br>Had deemed he had woke up over the Pit.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then spake the Queen o’er all the crowd,<br>And grim was her speech, and harsh, and loud:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Hold now your peace, ye routing swine,<br>While I sit with mine own love over the wine!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For this dusk is the very deed of a foe,<br>Or under the sun no man I know.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And hard she spake, and loud she cried<br>Till the noise of the bickering guests had died.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then again she spake amidst of the mirk,<br>In a voice like an unoiled wheel at work:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Whoso would have a goodly gift,<br>Let him bring aback the sun to the lift.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Let him bring aback the light and the day,<br>And rich and in peace he shall go his way.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Out spake a voice was clean and clear:<br>“Lo, I am she to dight your gear;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But I for the deed a gift shall gain,<br>To sit by Goldilocks the Swain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I shall sit at the board by the bride-groom’s side,<br>And be betwixt him and the bride.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I shall eat of his dish and drink of his cup,<br>Until for the bride-bed ye rise up.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then was the Queen’s word wailing-wild:<br>“E’en so must it be, thou Angel’s child.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thou shalt sit by my groom till the dawn of night,<br>And then shalt thou wend thy ways aright.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Said the voice, “Yet shalt thou swear an oath<br>That free I shall go though ye be loth.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“How shall I swear?” the false Queen spake:<br>“Wherewith the sure oath shall I make?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Thou shalt swear by the one eye left in thine head,<br>And the throng of the ghosts of the evil dead.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She swore the oath, and then she spake:<br>“Now let the second dawn awake.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And e’en therewith the thing was done;<br>There was peace in the hall, and the light of the sun.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And again the Queen was calm and fair,<br>And courteous sat the guest-folk there.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet unto Goldilocks it seemed<br>As if amidst the night he dreamed;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">As if he sat in a grassy place,<br>While slim hands framed his hungry face;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">As if in the clearing of the wood<br>One gave him bread and apples good;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And nought he saw of the guest-folk gay,<br>And nought of all the Queen’s array.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet saw he betwixt board and door,<br>A slim maid tread the chequered floor.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Her gown of green so fair was wrought,<br>That clad her body seemed with nought</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But blossoms of the summer-tide,<br>That wreathed her, limbs and breast and side.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And, stepping towards him daintily,<br>A basket in her hand had she.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And as she went, from head to feet,<br>Surely was she most dainty-sweet.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Love floated round her, and her eyes<br>Gazed from her fairness glad and wise;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But babbling-loud the guests were grown;<br>Unnoted was she and unknown.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now Goldilocks she sat beside,<br>But nothing changed was the Queenly bride;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yea too, and Goldilocks the Swain<br>Was grown but dull and dazed again.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Queen smiled o’er the guest-rich board,<br>Although his wine the Maiden poured;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Though from his dish the Maiden ate,<br>The Queen sat happy and sedate.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But now the Maiden fell to speak<br>From lips that well-nigh touched his cheek:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O Goldilocks, dost thou forget?<br>Or mindest thou the mirk-wood yet?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Forgettest thou the hunger-pain<br>And all thy young life made but vain?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">How there was nought to help or aid,<br>But for poor Goldilocks the Maid?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She murmured, “Each to each we two,<br>Our faces from the wood-mirk grew.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hast thou forgot the grassy place,<br>And love betwixt us face to face?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hast thou forgot how fair I deemed<br>Thy face? How fair thy garment seemed?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thy kisses on my shoulders bare,<br>Through rents of the poor raiment there?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">My arms that loved thee nought unkissed<br>All o’er from shoulder unto wrist?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hast thou forgot how brave thou wert,<br>Thou with thy fathers’ weapon girt;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When underneath the bramble-bush<br>I quaked like river-shaken rush,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Wondering what new-wrought shape of death<br>Should quench my new love-quickened breath?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Or else: forget’st thou, Goldilocks,<br>Thine own land of the wheaten shocks?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thy mother and thy sisters dear,<br>Thou said’st would bide thy true-love there?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hast thou forgot? Hast thou forgot?<br>O love, my love, I move thee not.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Silent the fair Queen sat and smiled<br>And heeded nought the Angel’s child,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For like an image fashioned fair<br>Still sat the Swain with empty stare.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">These words seemed spoken not, but writ<br>As foolish tales through night-dreams flit.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Vague pictures passed before his sight,<br>As in the first dream of the night.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But the Maiden opened her basket fair,<br>And set two doves on the table there.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And soft they cooed, and sweet they billed<br>Like man and maid with love fulfilled.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Therewith the Maiden reached a hand<br>To a dish that on the board did stand;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And she crumbled a share of the spice-loaf brown,<br>And the Swain upon her hand looked down;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then unto the fowl his eyes he turned;<br>And as in a dream his bowels yearned</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For somewhat that he could not name;<br>And into his heart a hope there came.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And still he looked on the hands of the Maid,<br>As before the fowl the crumbs she laid.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And he murmured low, “O Goldilocks!<br>Were we but amid the wheaten shocks!”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then the false Queen knit her brows and laid<br>A fair white hand by the hand of the Maid.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He turned his eyes away thereat,<br>And closer to the Maiden sat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But the queen-bird now the carle-bird fed<br>Till all was gone of the sugared bread.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then with wheedling voice for more he craved,<br>And the Maid a share from the spice-loaf shaved;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And the crumbs within her hollow hand<br>She held where the creeping doves did stand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But Goldilocks, he looked and longed,<br>And saw how the carle the queen-bird wronged.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For when she came to the hand to eat<br>The hungry queen-bird thence he beat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then Goldilocks the Swain spake low:<br>“Foul fall thee, bird, thou doest now</div><div style="margin:10px 0">As I to Goldilocks, my sweet,<br>Who gave my hungry mouth to eat.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He felt her hand as he did speak,<br>He felt her face against his cheek.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He turned and stood in the evil hall,<br>And swept her up in arms withal.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then was there hubbub wild and strange,<br>And swiftly all things there ’gan change.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The fair Queen into a troll was grown,<br>A one-eyed, bow-backed, haggard crone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And though the hall was yet full fair,<br>And bright the sunshine streamed in there,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">On evil shapes it fell forsooth:<br>Swine-heads; small red eyes void of ruth;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And bare-boned bodies of vile things,<br>And evil-feathered bat-felled wings.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And all these mopped and mowed and grinned,<br>And sent strange noises down the wind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There stood those twain unchanged alone<br>To face the horror of the crone;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She crouched against them by the board;<br>And cried the Maid: “Thy sword, thy sword!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thy sword, O Goldilocks! For see<br>She will not keep her oath to me.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Out flashed the blade therewith. He saw<br>The foul thing sidelong toward them draw,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Holding within her hand a cup<br>Wherein some dreadful drink seethed up.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then Goldilocks cried out and smote,<br>And the sharp blade sheared the evil throat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The head fell noseling to the floor;<br>The liquor from the cup did pour,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And ran along a sparkling flame<br>That nigh unto their footsoles came.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then empty straightway was the hall,<br>Save for those twain, and she withal.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So fled away the Maid and Man,<br>And down the stony stairway ran.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Fast fled they o’er the sunny grass<br>Yet but a little way did pass</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ere cried the Maid: “Now cometh forth<br>The snow-white ice-bear of the North;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Turn Goldilocks, and heave up sword!”<br>Then fast he stood upon the sward,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And faced the beast, that whined and cried,<br>And shook his head from side to side.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But round him the Swain danced and leaped,<br>And soon the grisly head he reaped.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And then the ancient blade he sheathed,<br>And ran unto his love sweet-breathed;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And caught her in his arms and ran<br>Fast from that house, the bane of man.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet therewithal he spake her soft<br>And kissed her over oft and oft,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Until from kissed and trembling mouth<br>She cried: “The Dragon of the South!”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He set her down and turned about,<br>And drew the eager edges out.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And therewith scaly coil on coil<br>Reared ’gainst his face the mouth aboil:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The gaping jaw and teeth of dread<br>Was dark ’twixt heaven and his head.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But with no fear, no thought, no word,<br>He thrust the thin-edged ancient sword.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And the hot blood ran from the hairy throat,<br>And set the summer grass afloat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then back he turned and caught her hand,<br>And never a minute did they stand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But as they ran on toward the wood,<br>He deemed her swift feet fair and good.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She looked back o’er her shoulder fair:<br>“The whelming poison-pool is here;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And now availeth nought the blade:<br>O if my cherished trees might aid!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But now my feet fail. Leave me then!<br>And hold my memory dear of men.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He caught her in his arms again;<br>Of her dear side was he full fain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Her body in his arms was dear:<br>“Sweet art thou, though we perish here!”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Like quicksilver came on the flood:<br>But lo, the borders of the wood!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She slid from out his arms and stayed;<br>Round a great oak her arms she laid.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“If e’er I saved thee, lovely tree,<br>From axe and saw, now, succour me:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Look how the venom creeps anigh,<br>Help! lest thou see me writhe and die.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She crouched beside the upheaved root,<br>The bubbling venom touched her foot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then with a sucking gasping sound<br>It ebbed back o’er the blighted ground.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Up then she rose and took his hand<br>And never a moment did they stand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Come, love,” she cried, “the ways I know,<br>How thick soe’er the thickets grow.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O love, I love thee! O thine heart!<br>How mighty and how kind thou art!”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Therewith they saw the tree-dusk lit,<br>Bright grey the great boles gleamed on it.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O flee,” she said, “the sword is nought<br>Against the flickering fire-flaught.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“But this availeth yet,” said he,<br>“That Hallows All our love may see.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He turned about and faced the glare:<br>“O Mother, help us, kind and fair!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now help me, true St. Nicholas,<br>If ever truly thine I was!”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Therewith the wild-fire waned and paled<br>And in the wood the light nigh failed;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And all about ’twas as the night.<br>He said: “Now won is all our fight,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And now meseems all were but good<br>If thou mightst bring us from the wood.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She fawned upon him, face and breast;<br>She said: “It hangs ’twixt worst and best.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And yet, O love, if thou be true,<br>One thing alone thou hast to do.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sweetly he kissed her, cheek and chin:<br>“What work thou biddest will I win.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O love, my love, I needs must sleep;<br>Wilt thou my slumbering body keep,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And, toiling sorely, still bear on<br>The love thou seemest to have won?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O easy toil,” he said, “to bless<br>Mine arms with all thy loveliness.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She smiled; “Yea, easy it may seem,<br>But harder is it than ye deem.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For hearken! Whatso thou mayst see,<br>Piteous as it may seem to thee,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Heed not nor hearken! bear me forth,<br>As though nought else were aught of worth,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For all earth’s wealth that may be found<br>Lay me not sleeping on the ground,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To help, to hinder, or to save!<br>Or there for me thou diggest a grave.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He took her body on his arm,<br>Her slumbering head lay on his barm.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then glad he bore her on the way,<br>And the wood grew lighter with the day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All still it was, till suddenly<br>He heard a bitter wail near by.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet on he went until he heard<br>The cry become a shapen word:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Help me, O help, thou passer by!<br>Turn from the path, let me not die!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I am a woman; bound and left<br>To perish; of all help bereft.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then died the voice out in a moan;<br>He looked upon his love, his own,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And minding all she spake to him<br>Strode onward through the wild-wood dim.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But lighter grew the woodland green<br>Till clear the shapes of things were seen.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And therewith wild halloos he heard,<br>And shrieks, and cries of one afeard.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Nigher it grew and yet more nigh<br>Till burst from out a brake near by</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A woman bare of breast and limb,<br>Who turned a piteous face to him</div><div style="margin:10px 0">E’en as she ran: for hard at heel<br>Followed a man with brandished steel,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And yelling mouth. Then the swain stood<br>One moment in the glimmering wood</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Trembling, ashamed: Yet now grown wise<br>Deemed all a snare for ears and eyes.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So onward swiftlier still he strode<br>And cast all thought on his fair load.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And yet in but a little space<br>Back came the yelling shrieking chase,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And well-nigh gripped now by the man,<br>Straight unto him the woman ran;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And underneath the gleaming steel<br>E’en at his very feet did kneel.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She looked up; sobs were all her speech,<br>Yet sorely did her face beseech.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">While o’er her head the chaser stared,<br>Shaking aloft the edges bared.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Doubted the swain, and a while did stand<br>As she took his coat-lap in her hand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Upon his hand he felt her breath<br>Hot with the dread of present death.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sleek was her arm on his scarlet coat,<br>The sobbing passion rose in his throat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But e’en therewith he looked aside<br>And saw the face of the sleeping bride.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then he tore his coat from the woman’s hand,<br>And never a moment there did stand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But swiftly thence away he strode<br>Along the dusky forest road.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And there rose behind him laughter shrill,<br>And then was the windless wood all still,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He looked around o’er all the place,<br>But saw no image of the chase.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And as he looked the night-mirk now<br>O’er all the tangled wood ’gan flow.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then stirred the sweetling that he bore,<br>And she slid adown from his arms once more.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Nought might he see her well-loved face;<br>But he felt her lips in the mirky place.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“’Tis night,” she said, “and the false day’s gone,<br>And we twain in the wild-wood all alone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Night o’er the earth; so rest we here<br>Until to-morrow’s sun is clear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For overcome is every foe<br>And home to-morrow shall we go.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So ’neath the trees they lay, those twain,<br>And to them the darksome night was gain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But when the morrow’s dawn was grey<br>They woke and kissed whereas they lay.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And when on their feet they came to stand<br>Swain Goldilocks stretched out his hand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And he spake: “O love, my love indeed,<br>Where now is gone thy goodly weed?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For again thy naked feet I see,<br>And thy sweet sleek arms so kind to me.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Through thy rent kirtle once again<br>Thy shining shoulder showeth plain.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She blushed as red as the sun-sweet rose:<br>“My garments gay were e’en of those</div><div style="margin:10px 0">That the false Queen dight to slay my heart;<br>And sore indeed was their fleshly smart.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet must I bear them, well-beloved,<br>Until thy truth and troth was proved.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And this tattered coat is now for a sign<br>That thou hast won me to be thine.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now wilt thou lead along thy maid<br>To meet thy kindred unafraid.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">As stoops the falcon on the dove<br>He cast himself about her love.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He kissed her over, cheek and chin,<br>He kissed the sweetness of her skin.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then hand in hand they went their way<br>Till the wood grew light with the outer day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At last behind them lies the wood,<br>And before are the Upland Acres good.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">On the hill’s brow awhile they stay<br>At midmorn of the merry day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He sheareth a deal from his kirtle meet,<br>To make her sandals for her feet.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He windeth a wreath of the beechen tree,<br>Lest men her shining shoulders see.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And a wreath of woodbine sweet, to hide<br>The rended raiment of her side;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And a crown of poppies red as wine,<br>Lest on her head the hot sun shine.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She kissed her love withal and smiled:<br>“Lead forth, O love, the Woodland Child!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Most meet and right meseems it now<br>That I am clad with the woodland bough.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For betwixt the oak-tree and the thorn<br>Meseemeth erewhile was I born.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And if my mother aught I knew<br>It was of the woodland folk she grew.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And O that thou art well at ease<br>To wed the daughter of the trees!”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now Goldilocks and Goldilocks<br>Go down amidst the wheaten shocks,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But when anigh to the town they come,<br>Lo there is the wain a-wending home,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And many a man and maid beside,<br>Who tossed the sickles up, and cried:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O Goldilocks, now whither away?<br>And what wilt thou with the woodland may?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O this is Goldilocks my bride,<br>And we come adown from the wild-wood side,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And unto the Fathers’ House we wend<br>To dwell therein till life shall end.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“Up then on the wain, that ye may see<br>From afar how thy mother bideth thee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">That ye may see how kith and kin<br>Abide thee, bridal brave to win.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So Goldilocks and Goldilocks<br>Sit high aloft on the wheaten shocks,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And fair maids sing before the wain,<br>For all of Goldilocks are fain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But when they came to the Fathers’ door,<br>There stood his mother old and hoar.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet was her hair with grey but blent,<br>When forth from the Upland Town he went.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There by the door his sisters stood;<br>Full fair they were and fresh of blood;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Little they were when he went away;<br>Now each is meet for a young man’s may.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O tell me, Goldilocks, my son,<br>What are the deeds that thou hast done?”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“I have wooed me a wife in the forest wild,<br>And home I bring the Woodland Child.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“A little deed to do, O son,<br>So long a while as thou wert gone.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O mother, yet is the summer here<br>Now I bring aback my true-love dear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And therewith an Evil Thing have I slain;<br>Yet I come with the first-come harvest-wain.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">“O Goldilocks, my son, my son!<br>How good is the deed that thou hast done?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But how long the time that is worn away!<br>Lo! white is my hair that was but grey.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And lo these sisters here, thine own,<br>How tall, how meet for men-folk grown!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Come, see thy kin in the feasting-hall,<br>And tell me if thou knowest them all!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O son, O son, we are blithe and fain;<br>But the autumn drought, and the winter rain,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The frost and the snow, and St. David’s wind,<br>All these that were, time out of mind,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All these a many times have been<br>Since thou the Upland Town hast seen.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then never a word spake Goldilocks<br>Till they came adown from the wheaten shocks.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And there beside his love he stood<br>And he saw her body sweet and good.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then round her love his arms he cast:<br>“The years are as a tale gone past.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But many the years that yet shall be<br>Of the merry tale of thee and me.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Come, love, and look on the Fathers’ Hall,<br>And the folk of the kindred one and all!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For now the Fathers’ House is kind,<br>And all the ill is left behind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And Goldilocks and Goldilocks<br>Shall dwell in the land of the Wheaten Shocks.”</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=William+Morris">William Morris</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=538814" data-title="Goldilocks And Goldilocks de William Morris" data-description="It was Goldilocks woke up in the morn
At the first of the shearing of the corn.

There stood his mother on the hearth
And of new-leased wheat was little dearth.

There stood his sisters by the quern,
For the high-noon cakes they needs must earn.

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