Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LITTLE CREATURE, by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LITTLE CREATURE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twinkum, twankum, twirlum and twitch
Last Line: My great grandam -- she was a witch.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ramal, Walter; De La Mare, Walter


Twinkum, 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 you 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 knowing t'other from which --
My great grandam -- She was a Witch.





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