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

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.

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