Strays from Halloween's Dream
by Carolyn Cox
there were three of them;
tall and thin and stuffed with straw,
held together with twigs and twine;
clothed in a patched motley
of midnight black and october orange.
eldritch candlelight flickered from within
hollowed out skulls,
identical jack o lantern grins penetrated the murky twilight.
silently they ghosted down st. andrews in the rain;
on bicycles fashioned from the mottled ivory of ancient bones.
the lonely wind whispered softly through spokes choked
with rotting leaves as crows cawed rustily;
perched upon telephone poles and november bare branches,
heads cocked; watching the eerie procession below.
they disappeared from sight, these strays from halloween's darkest dream;
the moment the harvest moon rose, a sinister orange above the trees.
the crows took wing then, to follow them into the wood;
and in their wake there lingered the haunting perfume of samhain:
hoarfrost and sweet cinnamon, decaying mulch and the acrid tang of woodsmoke.
Isn't that wonderfully evocative of All Hallow's Eve? I love it!
Now add in a couple of Witches with black cats ...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguLqpEjfW33eZPGVuHBsOxQHJWP558MH1y02AhUoP6iKtCADYxi07BedZ1Hm-wltw6BME3FdHKY-Al49_AARF8J8OFA8sS5Ptrtnogpxl6L_JcCfxmeF7NjAjwCv_jhqVmKr1GDXCcc4k/s640/IMG_0579.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh7kF4pXtdLDK0NKNtqMq_BECgDGNmXOxcCX-UHOkHzjPw4kTGARv7QcszsX76Rj-_jorKqKv7dQsJ86Xv0Xp1TomcyVd0KaGRci1nTTzFOl01BWWObz7NAMK01R8A8dRAZlUReLC00pA/s640/IMG_0572.jpg)
and you have ...
Happy Halloween!!