Charm Against a Wen
Wen, wen, little wen
You are not welcome here –
Go north to the far, hard hills
Where your wretched brother waits.
He shall lay a leaf over your face
Roll you under the wolf’s heavy paw,
Feed you to the eagle’s talon
And you shall writhe and shrivel.
Fade, like coal on the hearth.
Shrink and flake like dung in the light.
Waste as water in the pail,
small as a grain of linseed,
tinier than a hand-worm’s hipbone!
So tiny you are nothing
wen, wen, wen.
Sarah Westcott, "Charm Against a Wen" from Slant Light. Copyright © 2016 by Sarah Westcott. Reprinted by permission of Liverpool University Press through PLSclear.