Page:Poems, now first collected, Stedman, 1897.djvu/100

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WITCHCRAFT

So through the season, where you go,
All else than Lita men forget:
One needs no second-sight to know
That sorcery is rampant yet.


Now, since the bars no more await
Fair maids that practise sable arts,
Take heed, while I pronounce the fate
Of her who thus ensnares men's hearts:
In time you shall a wizard meet
With spells more potent than your own,
And you shall know your master, Sweet,
And for these witcheries atone.


For you at his behest shall wear
A veil, and seek with him the church,
And at the altar rail forswear
The craft that left you in the lurch;
But oft thereafter, musing long,
With smile, and sigh, and conscience-twitch,
You shall too late confess the wrong—
A captive and repentant witch.

1884

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