she would swear curses

at adversaries she hated,

enemies got bad scrams,

their prospects down-rated

 

I'd smile, it seemed a joke,

her mother's just the same,

superstitious nonsense,

some daft witches' game

 

yet was it really so silly,or

was there something to it?

some victims took poorly,

there was never a minute

 

free of tragic local news,

some ousted friend down

with fatal illness, reports

of strange deaths in town

 

she fell out with the vicar,

he collapsed in his pew,

then the landlord's stroke,

the litany of fallen grew

 

I learned to keep quiet as

her spells got out of hand,

the last thing I desired, to

join that expanding band

 

last night I left her, slunk

off, fugitive from her might,

now I've got chest pains,

she says it serves me right

 

if I return, she'll revoke it,

her hex on my frail ticker,

stay away and I've had it,

I face getting even sicker

 

I recall the day we married,

vows for better and worse,

little knowing I'd succumb

to a wicked fiend's curse