HALLOWEEN

“There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart's controls.” – Aeschylus

It’s Halloween tonight and quite fittingly in Melbourne we have had an electrical storm with lots of lightning and thunder and finally rain. The sky is clearing now and the almost full moon is peeking out through the clouds now and then. It’s time for the ghoulies and ghosties to come out…

Here is a poem I wrote last year for the occasion:

Halloween

It’s a dark, scary night
Halloween is tonight –
All the ghoulies are out
All the ghosties about…

With a crick and a crack
And a tap on my back
I’m trembling and shaking,
A-fearing and quaking.

It’s a night of the fey
Take care not to stray,
All the witches do sport
All the fiends do cavort.

With a quick step I tread
With a bat on my head:
It’s shrieking and squeaking
And victims is seeking.

It’s the dark, stormy night
Of the hag and the sprite –
All the zombies parade,
All the children afraid.

With a shudder and shake
Until dawn wide awake,
I’m quietly abiding
In the dark hiding.

It’s the night full of screams
And of horrible dreams –
All the spectres take flight
All the banshees delight.

With a sob and a sigh
With a throb and a cry,
I’m shuddering, shivering
Queasily quivering
It’s Halloween!

And quite aptly, here is something Monsieur St Saëns composed for tonight: