“Hallowe’en”
HALLOWEEN
Its Halloween
And shapes scarce seen
Are darting through the air.
The ghosts are out,
They’re all about,
They’re flitting here and there.
Along the street
With nimble feet,
A crowd of spooks I see
With laughter gay,
They’re off, away,
With whispers fraught with glee.
At twelve o’clock
A frightful knock
Comes crashing through the night,
But when I go
The cause to know
There’s not a soul in sight.
The window next
With no protest
Gives out an awesome shriek,
But when I race
And search the place,
In vain for ghosts I seek.
Sometimes they bring
Near everything
And leave it at my door:
But when I wake
I find they take
As much, and often more.
And when at last
The night is past
I gaze upon strange sights;
A rope is strung
Tree tops among,
And graced with scarlet tights.
A neighbor’s cart
Has come apart
And roost upon our shed:
Our swing is gone,
But on our lawn
There sets an ancient bed.
The village crank
Is out to spank
The kids that brought him leaves:
Some urchins bright
Just out of sight
Are laughing up their sleeves.
Its Halloween
And shapes unseen
Are flitting through the dark:
On phantom wings
Strange ghostly things
Now have their yearly lark.
The kids are out
In madcap rout
To have their yearly lark.
“What the boys did to the cow”
Image 1 retrieved from:
Image Title: Hallowe’en. Item Physical Description: 1 postcard : col., embossed ; 8.9 x 14 cm.
Source: Holiday postcards / Halloween; Source Description: 17 postcards : col. ; 9 x 14 cm.
Location: Mid-Manhattan Library / Picture Collection; Catalog Call Number: PC POC – Halloween; Digital ID: 1587802; Record ID: 1065700
Image 2 retrieved from:
Image Title: What the boys did to the cow. Additional Name(s): Julius Bien & Co. — Publisher
Source: Holiday postcards / Halloween; Location: Mid-Manhattan Library / Picture Collection
Catalog Call Number: PC POC – Halloween; Digital ID: 1587798; Record ID: 1065698
Reblogged this on Writings and Letters of Darius Mitteer Ratcliff.
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Cute poem, Betty Jo! What a treasure to have found all of your Grandfather’s writings!
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