Winkum, twankum, twirlum and twitch --
My great grandam -- She was a Witch;
Mouse in wainscot, Saint in niche --
My great grandam -- She was a Witch ;
Deadly nightshade flowers in a ditch --
My great grandam -- She was a Witch;
Long though the shroud, it grows stitch by stitch --
My great grandam -- She was a Witch ;
Wean your weakling before you breech --
My great grandam -- She was a Witch ;
The fattest pig 's but a double flitch --
My great grandam -- She was a Witch ;
Nightjars rattle, owls scritch --
My great grandam -- She was a Witch.

Pretty and small,
A mere nothing at all,
Pinned up sharp in the ghost of a shawl,
She 'd straddle her down to the kirkyard wall,
And mutter and whisper and call,
And call. . .';

Red blood out and black blood in,
My Nannie says I 'm a child of sin.
How did I choose me my witchcraft kin?
Know I as soon as dark's dreams begin
Snared is my heart in a nightmare's gin ;
Never from terror I out may win ;
So dawn and dusk I pine, peak, thin,
Scarcely beknowing t' other from which
My great grandam -- She was a Witch.