A Witch's Cottage

There was an empty,deserted cottage in my village when I was a child before WW2. All the children believed that a witch had lived here. It was filled with mouldering furniture and it was a terrifying place to me and my friends. Despite the fear we would peer through the open windows at the desolation within. There was fascination as well as fear. I have since read that in the past a dwelling that had been lived in by someone generally believed to be a witch would be left untouched when that person died. Here is my memory of that terrifying place.

A Witch's Cottage

A deserted cottage,derelict, forlorn;

Within was mouldering furniture from a bygone time.

Daring children peeped through the glassless windows

But never ventured through the door.

"That's where a witch lived", they cried

As they ran from the grown-over garden.

Did a witch live there,

Or some old woman feared by all,

A tale of the past told by generations of playful children?

It's long gone now,

That ancient reminder of a primitive belief.

And a smart new house stands there.

The memory has gone from present day children,

But is the ancient sorcery for ever laid to rest?