by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956)

Language: English 
Up on their brooms the Witches stream,
Crooked and black in the crescent's gleam;
One foot high, and one foot low,
Bearded, cloaked, and cowled, they go,
'Neath Charlie's Wain they twitter and tweet,
And away they swarm 'neath the Dragon's feet,
With a whoop and a flutter they swing and sway,
And surge pell-mell down the Milky Way.
Between the legs of the glittering Chair
They hover and squeak in the empty air.
Then round they swoop past the glimmering Lion
To where Sirius barks behind huge Orion;
Up, then, and over to wheel amain,
Under the silver, and home again.

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Composition:

    Set to music by Doreen Carwithen (1922 - 2003), "The ride-by-nights" [ voice and piano ]

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-01-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 103