A poem for Halloween

The Time for Dancing

By: Jeff Lee

The moon is high and bright in the sky

The shadows skip ink out of still corners sticking to corners and steps

The winds race like through the trees invisible to the human eye

The oldest of places spring new life from their depths

It is the night when the vale is thin and brittle like books of paper

It is the time of horror and frights

It is the moments when breaths beneath the ground are whispered

The ethereal clock has come round striking the bells of Hallows eve night

There are devils in the drinking water

There are wolves behind every lingered howl

There is excitement in the eyes of every son and daughter

There are pointed teeth shadowed by every pulled tight cowl

Doors sit waiting for answer

Small bags sit ready to be filled

Tiny hearts beet faster and faster

Yelling not for blood, but for candy to be spilled

There are treats bowled, covered, and branded

There are tricks rolled, yoked, and rung

There are smiles hidden behind masks eager to see what will be handed

There are snickers behind bushes as endeavors of malice are stung

But still after the night has run out of races

And all the footfalls have grown still

There lurks a dark lingered kiss of ghostly paces

There walk the stories remembered ever dark and foreboding with ill

Now is there time to run wild

Tis the hour for the other siders to return

Once all the costumes are no longer hung from the form of a child

The candle of Samhain begins to burn  

They come forth from their graves of long slumber

Walking out to dance before the moon

Looking for partners to hold hands or seek plunder

Knowing for sure but hoping the music’s end is not soon

As the dawn begins his chance of the night

They bow deeply to their partners

The spectral forms seem more hollow and light

And lay down in their graces ready for another years slumbers

Those mortals that came to watch the dead dance their ball

Gather up their food and their libations

Pining back their clocks and their shawls

The keep wonder in their hears at the mystery of life’s machinations.