Read "The Pedlar" by Edith Nesbit online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Fly, fly, my pretty pigeon, fly! / And see if you can find him; / He has blue eyes -- you'll know him by, -- / He wears a pack behind him.
He's gone away -- ah! many a mile / Because he could not please me, / And, oh! 'twill be a weary while / Ere next he comes to tease me.
He carries wares of every kind, / Fine ribbons, silks, and laces, / Bargains to rhyme with every mind, / And hues to suit all faces.
He has gold rings and pretty things / That other maids will throng for, / Ah, pigeon! spread your pretty wings, / And fly to him I long for.
Tell him to turn and come again, / For once I sent him packing; / He offered me a bargain then, / But wit and price were lacking.
I have the price he asked of me, / The wit that will not weigh it; / Ah! bid him come again and see / How gladly I will pay it.
A heart of gold he offered me / As 'twere a penny fairing, / And only asked a worthless fee, / This heavy heart I'm wearing.
I would not then -- now long and drear / The white way winds behind him; / Ah! seek him, seek him, Pigeon dear, / But you will never find him!