Halloween

I am starting to realize what a family holiday Halloween really is.  I miss my sons and all the preparation of designing our costumes and gathering the supplies.  When I was young Halloween was one of the biggest days of our lives.  Since our family was so large, the collection of decorations and costumes grew every year.  I think it was some of the most fun my siblings and I had together. We were usually one of the most popular Halloween haunts on the block.  I remember the neighborhood kids anxiously looking forward to seeing what we came up with each year.  Our mother would dress up every year scaring some trick-or-treater's just about past the next house. It's always been one of my favorites, it's been a big deal and a lot of fun with my own children.  I know both of my sons are thinking about me today.

HALLOWE'EN
 

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-stomps-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 moon-beams 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, coofllke pranks recall?

Eery shadows were they then-
But to-night they come again;
Were we once more but sixteen,
Precious would be Halloween.

-Joel Benton

“At first cock-crow the ghosts must go, back to their quiet graves below.” ~ Theodosia Garrison