Half past

Midnight hour

A month before

Halloween

When bright is the moon

And colors cast in feint shadows

With dogs a barkin'

As I harken

Half asleep

Out my window pane

Ghosts

Gravestones

And Grandma's Old Bones

Dancing a top

Grandpa's gray old mound

Out upon the hillside

Cats a'callin

Like naughty children a'cryin

And the old gal

With nary a sound

Doing a jig

Across unev'n ground

Without even wear'in a wig

Bones all a flutter

I perchance hear the clatter

Of boney white legs

Shaking out the Charleston

And by then 

Fully awakened

Peering far out 

My bedroom window

As far as I could  safely stretch

There in the moon-lit distance

She smiles, nods, and winks 

Waving good-bye

Dressed in a gay white night gown

Flimsy with folds fallen all down

And robes flowing round

I hear then

A parting call

A bit of far-off laughter

A strange mocking cackle

Like a gooney bird I would think

Or some night-time sprite

Taken all a-fright

Seasons

Odd Ends: Perennial Poesy along the Way

2005