Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A LEAF FROM GRANNIE'S SCRAP BOOK, by J. E. WATT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A LEAF FROM GRANNIE'S SCRAP BOOK, by                    
First Line: Sud I chance I' the gloamin' to meet an auld wife
Last Line: Sud it dae me sma' guid, it can do me nae harm.
Subject(s): Witchcraft & Witches


SUD I chance i' the gloamin' to meet an auld wife,
Wi' a beard on her chin an' a staff in her hand,
I'd rin frae her gate as I'd rin for my life,
Gif the deil were ahint me wi' a' his black band.

Sud I happen thereafter to see a black cat
Loup through a wee winnock, or hole in the wa',
I'd look if a twig o' St. John's-wort I'd gat,
Lest it sud be the same wither'd carlin I saw.

I like nae the corbie, his song is but harsh,
As he sits on some blast-blighted stump o' a tree;
An' the muckle black taed that loups i' the marsh,
O, I wish he were mony a lang mile frae me.

The wee yellow-yorlin I winna misca't,
Lest it sud be mine to dree dool for my pains;
Richt fair are its feathers, but mind it has gat
Twa-draps o' the Deevil's black bluid in its veins.

Guid keep me aye far frae the "mune-bowing tyke,"
An' the pyot that chatters high up on the tree;
Frae the whittret that squeaks frae its hole in the dyke,
For the sicht o't alane is richt gruesome to me.

In this wonderfu' age, whan the folk are gaun daft,
An' hae new-fangled notions o' maist things atweel,
Hoo can we expect they'll believe in witchcraft,
Whan they scarce can believe in a God or a Deil?

But though sceptical bodies sud e'en be sae rash
As to laugh at an auld wife for wearin' a charm;
I will still prize a sprig o' the green mountain ash --
Sud it dae me sma' guid, it can do me nae harm.





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