Halloween
These small ones’ parrotings defy decoding
Is it trick or treat they chime
Or other dark forebodings
Such papered ghosts and lacquered bones
Sporting masks in trendy tones
Leave Celts and Christians fuddling
Each portal rent expands their baggy bloat
They bunch in doorways chastely lit
As tightly smiling faces weary for repose
Greet the thinly timorous
Tolerate the giddy bold
And lay upon them munchy offerings
Ask not the moment’s meaning
Do not probe the source
The minions rove the shrubby lawns
Agape at take and give
Their phalanx gobbling grove on grove
Our goodly children in the drove
A faithful night to banish grief
To harvest fantasy’s relief
From labors lost and spent belief
Bemused madness keeps us well
We watch the dead extend their spell
With flesh of nougat juice of caramel
10/15-10/31/95, 1/28, 3/6/96
Copyright 1996 by Maurice Leiter
Posted with permission
Recent Comments