Goblin Garden

Crouching close together
In the cooling weather,

                                                              

 With clasping arms and cautioning lips,

With tingling cheeks and finger tips,

Beside the brook,

along the glen,

 I heard the tramp of goblin men.

They said, " Let us get home before the night grows dark;

For clouds may gather

Though this is summer weather."

But laughed every goblin

When they spied me peeping:

Came towards me mobbling,

Flying, running, leaping,

Puffing and blowing,

Chuckling, clapping and crowing!

For your sake I have braved the glen

And had to do with goblin men.

*

With apologies to Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market

*

And so before the next rainfall,

How many goblins have you seen in all?