THE FIDDLER

The fiddler knows what's brewing

To the lilt of his lyric wiles:

The fiddler knows what rueing

Will come of this night's smiles!

He sees couples join them for dancing,

And afterwards joining for life,

He sees them pay high for their prancing

By a welter of wedded strife.

He twangs: “Music hails from the devil,

Though vaunted to come from heaven,

For it makes people do at a revel

What multiplies sins by seven.

“There's many a heart now mangled,

And waiting its time to go,

Whose tendrils were first entangled

By my sweet viol and bow!”