The Season's Truest Face

Behold the shelves in autumn's glow Where green-faced hags in plastic show Their warty noses, row on row The children shrink, the real Witch sighs Rolls her knowing, ancient eyes At this grotesque in cheap disguise For she has walked a longer road Has carried wisdom's precious load She never fit that monstrous mold PRE-CHORUS She is the woman at the door Who knows the herb and heals the sore She is the elder, silver-haired Who held the dying, never scared Who loved and lost and still has dared; CHORUS She is the season's truest face Not monster born of fear's disgrace Elder woman, full of grace She carries chocolate, carries flowers She tends the deep and secret powers She marks the days and counts the hours She is not green, she is not bent Her life has been deliberately spent She is not green, she is not bent Her life has been deliberately spent! VERSE 2 The hat once graced the heads of those Whom learned men and churchmen chose To fear, to mock, to decompose The noblewoman, mystic, seer The independent, the sincere Were made grotesque to spread their fear When crops had failed and plague had spread When kings had bled the people dead They needed someone else to dread PRE-CHORUS So older women bore the blame Were hunted down and put to shame Fed to scaffold, rope and flame The Witch Finders were handsomely paid Their fortunes on old women made Their greed dressed up as righteous trade She came down through history's long night; CHORUS She is the season's truest face Not monster born of fear's disgrace Elder woman, full of grace She carries chocolate, carries flowers She tends the deep and secret powers She marks the days and counts the hours She is not green, she is not bent Her life has been deliberately spent She is not green, she is not bent Her life has been deliberately spent! BRIDGE A caricature, yes, but still in sight Still carrying her stubborn light She is the Crone who faced her death Who breathed it in with steady breath Found her purpose underneath She shed the old and claimed the new Now there's nothing she won't do Now everything she touches; ... COMES THROUGH FINAL CHORUS She is the season's truest face Not monster born of fear's disgrace Elder woman, full of grace She carries chocolate, carries flowers She tends the deep and secret powers She marks the days and counts the hours She is not green, she is not bent Her life has been deliberately spent We change the world, the world sees clear We name ourselves without the fear Magic has always; been; HERE