The old witch-wife beside her door

Sat spinning with a watchful ear,

A horse's hoof upon the road

Is what she waits for, longs to hear.

The mottled gloaming dusky grew,

Or else we might a furrow trace,

Sowed with small bones and leaves of yew,

Across the road from place to place.

Hark he comes! The young bridegroom,

Singing gaily down the hill,