Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, YELLOWTHROAT WITCHERY, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

YELLOWTHROAT WITCHERY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Down by the swamp in the alder tangle
Last Line: "witchery, witchery, witchery, witch!"
Subject(s): Yellowthroats (birds)


Down by the swamp in the alder tangle,
Brisk little dandy in raiment gay,
Maker of ditties that daintily jangle,
Maryland yellowthroat whistles all day.

Smartly he pecks at the willows and birches,
Smartly he sings at a silvery pitch
Rollicking ballads unfitted for churches,
"Witchery, witchery, witchery, witch!"

Witchery truly, you dear little fifer,
Watching us quaintly with curious eye;
Witchery more than a sage could decipher
Under your carolling, jauntily spry.

Black-masked face uncannily hidden,
Breast aglimmer with golden bloom,
Where is the mystical steed you have ridden,
Where is your sly little witch's broom?

Witchery, witchery all around you,
Summer magic in blossom and tree,
Summer spells in the rhythms that bound you,
Shrill of the cricket and boom of the bee.

Witchery most of all in your singing,
Poet or vagabond, no one knows which,
Over the meadows your canticle ringing,
"Witchery, witchery, witchery, witch!"





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