October

Dreamlight streamlight wandering
Fickle, falling sounds
Pasture laughter following
Jewel-like leaves swirl 'round and 'round
Meadow treading minstrel songs
'Twine with smoke and shimmer on
Apple baskets overrun
Mark the end of season's sun
Pull one and dance among the trees
Sunlight stabbing silver down
Leave the seeds for earth and bees
Humming in the golden crown

Then darkness slips from shadows
Pools along the serpent streams
Rises in the valleys
Its web not always what it seems
Visions ribbon into halflight
Furtive figures flirt with form
The dead are called on Samhain night
By wily siren of Wild Hunt's horn
Dare we care to meet them
Out among their ghostly rounds?
Dare we trick or treat them
Or do we fear they'll pull us down?


copyright J. Shidler 10-2011