" ARE YOU A WITCH OR ARE YOU A FAIRY "
Are you a witch or are you a Fairy,
Or are you the wife of Michael Cleary ",
A old Irish rhyme, or is it all true,
Because her husband he burnt her, and up the chimney she flew.
He thought she was gone and would never return,
He poured oil from his lamp and set her to burn,
Her father and sister and her brother did watch,
As her husband threw down a flickering match.
The priest said a mass and she looked like a ghost,
And her throat couldn't swallow the priest's Holy Host,
She said she was cured and the Fairies had gone,
She said that the priest and her husband had won.
She was let out of bed and to the kitchen she went,
She was weak from her illness, she was tired and spent,
She refused to eat up the meal put before her,
So her husband stood up and continued his torture.
He tried pushing food down the wee lassie's mouth,
But she choked and she spluttered and the food flew back out,
Her family looked on all aghast and in shock,
And they begged Michael Cleary, " oh please Michael stop ".
Now you know how it ended for poor Mrs Cleary,
Whom her husband had thought was replaced by a Fairy,
But he was arrested and from his home he was led,
And brought to the gallows and hung until dead.
So are you a witch or are you a Fairy,
Or are you the wife of Michael Cleary,
An old Irish rhyme or is it all true,
Because her husband he burnt her, and up the chimney she flew.
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March 4th, 1895
Ballyvadlea, Ireland
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@Ambrose Harte
@Scattered Thoughts