The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme The witch of Shiloh, the last of the Wampanoags, the gentle earl, the enchanted voyage |
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 | The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme |  |
XL
“We reached the top. You never saw
A spot like that for signs an' wonders:
The turf ablaze like kindled straw,
The oaks a-spittin' sparks an' thunders,
The lanskip glarin' all around,
The air alive with spooks an' devils,
While crowds of witches sot the ground
A-teeter with their stompin' revels;
All guarded by a dragon's rolls
Of slimy scales an' tail enormous,
Who snorted ovens-full of coals,
An' blew 'em ragin' hot to warm us.
A spot like that for signs an' wonders:
The turf ablaze like kindled straw,
The oaks a-spittin' sparks an' thunders,
The lanskip glarin' all around,
The air alive with spooks an' devils,
While crowds of witches sot the ground
A-teeter with their stompin' revels;
All guarded by a dragon's rolls
Of slimy scales an' tail enormous,
Who snorted ovens-full of coals,
An' blew 'em ragin' hot to warm us.
46
“But, most astonishin' to tell,
I spied our lately wusshupt parson,
Both arms around our Yesebel,
A-jiggin' through the fire an' arson;
Both steppin' out at sech a pace,
So dandified an' swift an' supple,
With sech a gladness in the face,
I couldn't help admire the couple.
They kinder seemed like king an' queen:
I never saw a gal no sweeter:
Her cheeks a-flush, her glances keen:
All Shiloh couldn't show her beater.
She flew like any busy bee;
There warn't another jade went past her;
Yit seemed to me the parson he
Could foot it off a leetle faster.
He had a sort of unkshus slide:
You saw him, then you couldn't find him;
He squelched the spryest wizard's pride,
An' left the peartest imps behind him.
I spied our lately wusshupt parson,
Both arms around our Yesebel,
A-jiggin' through the fire an' arson;
Both steppin' out at sech a pace,
So dandified an' swift an' supple,
With sech a gladness in the face,
I couldn't help admire the couple.
They kinder seemed like king an' queen:
I never saw a gal no sweeter:
Her cheeks a-flush, her glances keen:
All Shiloh couldn't show her beater.
She flew like any busy bee;
There warn't another jade went past her;
Yit seemed to me the parson he
Could foot it off a leetle faster.
He had a sort of unkshus slide:
You saw him, then you couldn't find him;
He squelched the spryest wizard's pride,
An' left the peartest imps behind him.
| The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme | |