The Tide is Coming In!

He sat on top of the headland in

The driving, pouring rain,

The way that the clouds were gathering,

He’d never be dry again,

He thought of the girl at Windy Tor

Who had screamed at his only sin,

‘You’d better beware of that witch’s stare

For the tide is coming in!’

 

And down in the river valley, there

Was a cottage, made of stones,

Where a temptress with a gleam in her eye

Was juggling spells and bones,

She called the lightning out of the sky

With a book full of ancient tricks,

And blasted the heath round Windy Tor

While lighting her candlesticks.

 

But up at the Tor, Myfanwy raged

And bubbled and boiled the sea,

She churned it into a raging storm

That her lover could plainly see,

He thought of warning the temptress who

Had entered his eyes and ears,

But heard instead his Myfanwy say,

‘It only will end in tears.’

 

He couldn’t go down to the valley, and

He couldn’t go up to the Tor,

He could feel his life unravelling

From the bliss that he’d felt before,

A wind soughed up from the valley floor

Full of tempting overtones,

But from the Tor there was something more

An ache, and a Wake of moans.

 

The sun went down and he turned to go,

He made his way in the dark,

The spell that he was enchanted with

Had finally made its mark,

He turned his back on the love he’d lost,

Went down to the valley floor,

But all he could hear when he got quite near

Was the sea that beat on the shore.

 

The sea rose up and it poured right in

As it flooded over the plain,

The tide had entered the valley, it

Would never be dry again,

And under the flood of Myfanwy’s mood

Was the cottage, made of stones,

While all that was left of the temptress was

A gaggle of spells and bones.

 

Myfanwy’s still up at Windy Tor

And nurses a constant ache,

While his regret hasn’t left him yet

For his foolish, one mistake,

He’d sought a spell that she’d love him well

Then fell to a mortal sin,

And always he heard Myfanwy’s words,

‘The tide is coming in!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Glen Yumang Manese]

Good to read your work...again here and with this presentation...
I do miss when you put your voice to the read...
makes it more compelling...
as I follow along the lines...
as you did with a few of your writings...
the narrator is evident with these illustrations...
each time you put one for viewing...
again a pleasure...God Bless...

[TPK Stories]

Another great read David, always a pleasure to read your stories

[Colorado Brian]

I truly admire your ability to write about a wide range of topics, both reality and fiction. This poem is fantastic. As I read along I can clearly, easily see in my mind the valley and the sea and the witch with her brew.

[Valentine]

Different approach to the old Witches problem. Kathie

[Marie]

It really doesn't pay to get mixed up with witches. Black witchcraft or white, it always ends badly.