Witches Brew

The Witches Brew is a famous poem by William Shakespeare. It was written for a scene in his well-known play, MacBeth. The chant is spoken by three witches who are gathered around a cauldron, casting a spell.

Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.
Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whined.
The harpier cries. It’s time! It’s time!

Round about the cauldron go:
In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweated venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first in the charmed pot.

Double, double! Toil and trouble!
Fire burn and cauldron bubble!

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blindworm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing.
For charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double! Toil and trouble!
Fire burn and cauldron bubble!

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch’s mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg’d in the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat; and slips of yew
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,-
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For ingredients of our cauldron.

Double, double! Toil and trouble!
Fire burn and cauldron bubble!

Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.