Mischief, Mischief, the Devilry Is at Toil... (Scene II) Lyrics

SCENE TWO

VICAR
Mischief, mischief, the devilry is at toil
Lo! The churchyard seethes with flickering flames
Surely Satan's host make that turmoil
Playing foul and chanting unholy names
Do they come to ravish this mortal coil?
Me, God's poor servant, such are their vile aims

VOICES IN THE NIGHT
May our love blossom on lustrous meadows
Night be praised with dance, children of shadows

VICAR
Night's deep and dark yet I see it aright
And my weary soul shudders at these sounds
Shameless harlots from hell blaspheme my sight
Lustfully whoring with infernal hounds
God shall protect me with heavenly might
No cloven hoof shall stain these holy grounds

VOICES IN THE NIGHT
Save your prayers, our plays they'd never foil
Join us, succumb to lusts that thy mind coil

VICAR
Avaunt thee, to hell, foul spirits! Be gone!
Leave me, God's humble minister, alone
Who are ye, disguised in serpentine skin
Must be Gypsy coven, Romany kin
'Tis widely known, devildom is their fate
Heathens with witches and demons they mate

VOICES IN THE NIGHT
Wherefore thou seek to hide, why all this fear?
Join us, our songs be pleasant to thine ear

VICAR
Wretch, in vain thy knocking, whoever knocks
You've no enter to house that's clean and fair
God's holy power will protect these locks
But no one's knocking, how so? No one's there?
My brain must have been wrought with delusion
Truly, no witch hides in that waning night
But those noises couldn't be mere illusion?
All I see are thirteen rabbits, all white.