REVERAND HALE WAS RIGHT – THERE WAS A MURDER IN SALEM Folk Song by John Proctor By Nicola Pett

‘Man, we must look to cause proportionate. Were there murder done, perhaps, and never brought to light? Abomination? Some secret blasphemy that stinks to Heaven? Think on cause, man, and let you help me to discover it.’

Rev Hale - The Crucible


REVERAND HALE WAS RIGHT – THERE WAS A MURDER IN SALEM

Folk Song by John Proctor

It rode in on the shirt of a man that I know
Who had gone to the city, got addicted to blow
But his blood was still sweet, cause his mama had prayed,
So this bug hunkered down on his shoulder and stayed
Till that day by the river, till that day when my arm
Was bare in the sunshine, whilst I read him a Psalm
And we sought his redemption and we found gold in mud
While we smelt God close by, well that bug smelt my blood.

There was a murder in Salem
The Devil told God
Like Job, I was tested
Was found with bad blood
There was a murder in Salem
It lay at my hand
While one man found salvation
Another was damned

Unknown to the sinner, awash with regret
By that deep, cleansing river, on the day that we met
Although I knew Psalms could heal a man’s life
I also had known a young girl not my wife
And that bug, he had spent so much time suckin’ sin
As that man’s soul got purer, it lost taste for him
My bare arm in the sunshine promised blood that had erred
The kind a bug fed on sin surely preferred

If only that bug hadn’t chosen to land
On my arm where I saw him, within reach of my hand
If only I’d not lost my temper that day
Had shown it some mercy, had flicked it away…
Oh, all those that must hang, take comfort in knowing
When my soul flies to hell, to a small room it’s going
Where that squashed bug he waits, ten times bigger than me
And I’ll be running from him for eternity

There was a murder in Salem
The Devil told God
Like Job, I was tested
Was found with bad blood
There was a murder in Salem
It lay at my hand
While one man found salvation
Another was damned

Nicola Pett teaches English and Literature in Northern Queensland. She has had poetry published in Grand Little Things, The Chamber Magazine and Writing in a Women’s Voice.