Halloween (Joel Benton)

 

Bij Halloween

 

 
Trick-or-treat door Tom Shropshire, 2010

 

Halloween

Pixie, kobold, elf, and sprite
All are on their rounds to-night,—
In the wan moon’s silver ray
Thrives their helter-skelter play.

Fond of cellar, barn, or stack
True unto the almanac,
They present to credulous eyes
Strange hobgoblin mysteries.

Cabbage-stumps—straws wet with dew—
Apple-skins, and chestnuts too,
And a mirror for some lass
Show what wonders come to pass.

Doors they move, and gates they hide
Mischiefs that on moonbeams ride
Are their deeds,—and, by their spells,
Love records its oracles.

Don’t we all, of long ago
By the ruddy fireplace glow,
In the kitchen and the hall,
Those queer, coof-like pranks recall?

Every shadows were they then—
But to-night they come again;
Were we once more but sixteen
Precious would be Hallowe’en.

 

 
Joel Benton (29 mei 1832 – 15 september 1911)

De St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Amenia, de geboorteplaats van Joel Benton

 

Zie voor de schrijvers van de 31e oktober ook mijn twee vorige blogs van vandaag.