I read this as a way of warning to keep your bearings, or at least find a way to do so, when so many leap to conclusions all around us - and almost to a person, all the wrong conclusions. This is the province of everything from conspiracy theories to quack remedies, and we currently have a government full of these panicked people who, on the face of it, project themselves as being sturdy and in control when they confuse ruthlessness and the barking of orders and howls of shrieking urgency with leadership. Deep down, they have never led themselves; they have gone from impulse to impulse unchecked because they convinced others just enough that they looked tough enough for the role. They are too insecure to see their way to a better moral bearing. They are too far gone to be worth anything to anyone.

Maybe the Witch does deceive. I liked the analogy with algorithms - are they our cyber-spells? Spells do indeed lie, or enable us to lie to ourselves. Sometimes, they reveal truths. How to navigate the difference would represent the challenge.

Great poem for this!