Poem for Wednesday and Salem Cemetery

New England: Salem, Mass.
Salem Witchcraft
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(From Prologue to 'Giles Corey of the Salem Farms')

Delusions of the days that once have been,
Witchcraft and wonders of the world unseen,
Phantoms of air, and necromantic arts
That crushed the weak and awed the stoutest hearts,—
These are our theme to-night; and vaguely here,
Through the dim mists that crowd the atmosphere,
We draw the outlines of weird figures cast
In shadow on the background of the Past.
  Who would believe that in the quiet town
Of Salem, and amid the woods that crown
The neighboring hillsides, and the sunny farms
That fold it safe in their paternal arms,—
Who would believe that in those peaceful streets,
Where the great elms shut out the summer heats,
Where quiet reigns, and breathes through brain and breast
The benediction of unbroken rest,—
Who would believe such deeds could find a place
As these whose tragic history we retrace?
  'T was but a village then: the goodman ploughed
His ample acres under sun or cloud;
The goodwife at her doorstep sat and spun,
And gossiped with her neighbors in the sun;
The only men of dignity and state
Were then the Minister and the Magistrate,
Who ruled their little realm with iron rod,
Less in the love than in the fear of God;
And who believed devoutly in the Powers
Of Darkness, working in this world of ours,
In spells of Witchcraft, incantations dread,
And shrouded apparitions of the dead.
  Upon this simple folk “with fire and flame,”
Saith the old Chronicle, “the Devil came;
Scattering his firebrands and his poisonous darts,
To set on fire of Hell all tongues and hearts!
And ’t is no wonder; for, with all his host,
There most he rages where he hateth most,
And is most hated; so on us he brings
All these stupendous and portentous things!”
  Something of this our scene to-night will show;
And ye who listen to the Tale of Woe,
Be not too swift in casting the first stone,
Nor think New England bears the guilt alone.
This sudden burst of wickedness and crime
Was but the common madness of the time,
When in all lands, that lie within the sound
Of Sabbath bells, a Witch was burned or drowned.

-------- 

I expected Tuesday to be a day of chores, but I also expected the Taylor Swift fan presale to go the way Ticketmaster said it would, which was optimistic on both our parts. So I spent a huge amount of the day sitting in front of the computer as Ticketmaster changed the time of the west coast presale (since we were hoping to see Taylor in Seattle, with our niece from L.A.), then waiting to get into the queue, then waiting in the queue while my Voyager group got ready to watch "Night" (one of the worst hours of Star Trek). 

The good news is, I got four tickets! And while they aren't in seats as good as I was hoping for, they cost less as a result, so even Ticketmaster's insane, outrageous fees didn't leave us in hopeless debt. So after Voyager, I watched the sexy, superb season finale of Interview with the Vampire and the about-the-show special Obsessed with the Vampire, and now am catching up on LEGO Masters. Here are some pictures of the Salem Witch Trials memorial and the Old Burying Point Cemetery aka the Charter Street Cemetery: