The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 1.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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[24]
     But there no more shall withered hags
Refresh at ease their broomstick nags,
     Or taste those hazel-shadowed waters
As beverage meet for Satan's daughters;
     No more their mimic tones be heard,
The mew of cat, the chirp of bird,
     Shrill blending with the hoarser laughter
Of the fell demon following after!
     The cautious goodman nails no more
A horseshoe on his outer door,
     Lest some unseemly hag should fit
To his own mouth her bridle-bit;
     The goodwife's churn no more refuses
Its wonted culinary uses
     Until, with heated needle burned,
The witch has to her place returned!
     Our witches are no longer old
And wrinkled beldames, Satan-sold,
     But young and gay and laughing creatures,
With the heart's sunshine on their features;
     Their sorcery—the light which dances
Where the raised lid unveils its glances;
     Or that low-breathed and gentle tone,
The music of Love's twilight hours,
     Soft, dream-like, as a fairy's moan
Above her nightly closing flowers,
     Sweeter than that which sighed of yore
Along the charmed Ausonian shore!
     Even she, our own weird heroine,
Sole Pythoness of ancient Lynn,¹
     Sleeps calmly where the living laid her;
And the wide realm of sorcery,
     Left by its latest mistress free,
Hath found no gray and skilled invader.