Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy coat the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
- Walter de la Mare
Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
Harpier cries:-'tis time! 'tis time!
Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under coldest stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing.-
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil andtrouble;
Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Wtiches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of a birth-strangled babe
Ditch deliver'd by a drab,-
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tider's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our caldron.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldon bubble.
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
O, well done! I commend your pains;
And everyone shall share i' the gains.
And now about the caldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.
Whew! That took a while. Sorry to disappoint people, but real witches never do stuff like that. I mean, come on, who REALLY wants to put bits and pieces of things in a pot and boil it? Not me. However, it IS one of the most famous pieces of literature involving witchcraft, and one of my favorite poems!
