Friday 8 February 2013

Song of the Witches

Frank Cadogan Cowper: Venetian Ladies


Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork and bling-worms sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

(William Shakespeare - Macbeth: IV.i 10-19; 35-38)