The owl is abroad, the bat, and the toad,
And so is the cat-a-mountain,
The ant and the mole sit both in a hole,
And the frog peeps out o’ the fountain;
The dogs they do bay, and the timbrels play,
The spindle is now a turning;
The moon it is red, and the stars are fled,
But all the sky is a-burning:
The ditch is made, and our nails the spade,
With pictures full, of wax and of wool;
Their livers I stick, with needles quick;
There lacks but the blood, to make up the flood.
Quickly, Dame, then bring your part in,
Spur, spur upon little Martin,
Merrily, merrily, make him fail,
A worm in his mouth, and a thorn in his tail,
Fire above, and fire below,
With a whip in your hand, to make him go.
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Ben Jonson was a towering English playwright and poet of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, celebrated as a rival and contemporary of William Shakespeare. He is best known for satirical stage comedies such as Volpone and The Alchemist. This poem forms part of his elaborate court masque The Masque of Queens (1609), written for King James I, in which witches perform charms before being banished by heroic queens.
