First Witch: I come, Greymalkin.
Second Witch: Paddock calls. *
                          Macbeth, Act I, scene iii

Unfamiliar

With scale and claw, with claw and scale;
with tail and fur, with fur and tail.
Most ghastly, cherished animals:
I come, Greymalkin. Paddock calls.

Our ancient spirit chaperones,
ungodly to their very bones:
enchanted, feral sentinels.
I come, Greymalkin. Paddock calls.

We may traverse through many plains –
each mistress and her beast remains
conjoined by subtle manacles.
I come, Greymalkin. Paddock calls.

We sense them on the blasted heath,
companions from the realms beneath.
The summoning that so appals:
I come, Greymalkin. Paddock calls.

Macbeth is caught: our mischief, done.
The web of destiny is spun,
and poison drips from castle walls.
I come, Greymalkin. Paddock calls.

Now enmity and havoc reign
within the world of Dunsinane,
we fade to wisps, as brightness falls.
I come, Greymalkin. Paddock calls.

 

* The witches’ familiars: Greymalkin, a cat; and Paddock, a toad.

 

Sarah Doyle is the Pre-Raphaelite Society’s Poet-in-Residence. She has been widely placed and published, with her first collection, “Dreaming Spheres: Poems of the Solar System” (co-written with Allen Ashley), being published by PS Publishing in autumn 2014. Sarah co-hosts Rhyme & Rhythm Jazz-Poetry Club at Enfield’s Dugdale Theatre. More at:www.sarahdoyle.co.uk