[FOsen]

Tell


I dreamt I met our buddy Ted,
Who asked what news I had to tell
And grinned to hear I’m on the mend
And better, since I married you.
He roared when I pronounced him fit
And said I hadn’t changed a bit —
To quirky visions, ever true!
But then informed me, as my friend,
That he had died, you never wed,
And I am very far from well.

-- Frank

[Jennifer Reeser]

Chris, thanks so much for posting that one by Schnackenberg -- I'd never seen it before. I love this celebration. Perhaps it's my pagan Celtic blood, but my birthday is the day before, and always, always growing up, the cake was black and orange, with bats or cats, or the like. I don't know if Millay wrote this with anything of Halloween in mind, but if she didn't, she could have:

How healthily their feet upon the floor
Strike down! These are no spirits, but a band
Of children, surely, leaping hand in hand
Into the air in groups of three and four,
Wearing their silken rags as if they wore
Leaves only and light grasses, or a strand
Of black elusive seaweed oozing sand,
And running hard as if along a shore.
I know how lost forever, and at length
How still these lovely tossing limbs shall lie,
And the bright laughter and the panting breath;
And yet, before such beauty and such strength,
Once more, as always when the dance is high,
I am rebuked that I believe in death.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Costumes... I haven't decided yet. The kids and I will be making rounds of area churches and civic groups who don't get too awful with their celebrations. It's either my long black wig and the Oriental empress disguise, or my long blonde one, black boots and vest, and pink "Pirate Barbie" disguise!

Jennifer

[Janet Kenny]

The Original version of a poem posted up the thread by Gail White.


BANNED POSTA Lyke-Wake Dirge
BANNED POSTBANNED POST
THIS ae nighte, this ae nighte,
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....—Every nighte and alle,
BANNED POST
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte,
BANNED POST
BANNED POST.....BANNED POSTAnd Christe receive thy saule.
BANNED POST
BANNED POST
When thou from hence away art past,
BANNED POSTBANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....—Every nighte and alle,
BANNED POST
To Whinny-muir thou com'st at last;
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....And Christe receive thy saule.
BANNED POST
BANNED POST
If ever thou gavest hosen and shoon,
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....—Every nighte and alle,
BANNED POST
Sit thee down and put them on;
BANNED POST
BANNED POST.....And Christe receive thy saule.
BANNED POST
BANNED POST
If hosen and shoon thou ne'er gav'st nane
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....—Every nighte and alle,
BANNED POST
The whinnes sall prick thee to the bare bane;
BANNED POST
BANNED POST.....BANNED POSTAnd Christe receive thy saule.
BANNED POST
BANNED POST
From Whinny-muir when thou may'st pass,
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....—Every nighte and alle,
BANNED POST
To Brig o' Dread thou com'st at last;
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....And Christe receive thy saule.
BANNED POST
BANNED POST
From Brig o' Dread when thou may'st pass,
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....—Every nighte and alle,
BANNED POST
To Purgatory fire thou com'st at last;
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....And Christe receive thy saule.
BANNED POST
BANNED POST
If ever thou gavest meat or drink,
BANNED POSTBANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....—Every nighte and alle,
BANNED POST
The fire sall never make thee shrink;
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....And Christe receive thy saule.
BANNED POST
BANNED POST
If meat or drink thou ne'er gav'st nane,
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....—Every nighte and alle,

The fire will burn thee to the bare bane;
BANNED POST
BANNED POST.....And Christe receive thy saule.
BANNED POST
BANNED POST
This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
BANNED POST
BANNED POSTBANNED POST.....—Every nighte and alle,
BANNED POST
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte,

BANNED POST.....BANNED POSTAnd Christe receive thy saule.
BANNED POST
BANNED POST

[Gail White]

From CHANCE OF A GHOST, Helicon Nine Editions
(www.heliconnine.com)

WHAT THE CHILDREN STILL BELIEVE

There's a ghost under the bed,
waiting to drain the blood
from the soles of your feet.
This is the reason you always
keep your feet covered.
There's another ghost in the closet,
but if you sleep facing the door
he can't get out.
Turning your face to the wall
would be fatal. Leaving a light on
will always foil ghosts, but if
you must be in the dark,
then look towards the door.

You never taught them these things.
Somehow they always know them.

There's a skeleton under the house,
buried a hundred years.
At night you can hear the bones
rattle and stir.
It has flames instead of eyes,
and a tongueless voice
that murmurs and sings:
"Here in the cellar we're waiting,
rags and clattery bones!
rags and clattery bones!
When we come out to dance
one night you will have to join us,
ready or not! ready or not!
Here in the damp we are waiting.

This is the song of the bones
you have not yet forgotten.

-GW

[Maryann Corbett]

As tomorrow is the great day, I think I'll bump up this thread! Enjoy.

[Andrew Frisardi]

Here’s one of Yeats’s Samhain poems to add to the mix:


The Hosting of the Sidhe

The host is riding from Knocknarea
And over the grave of Clooth-na-Bare;
Caoilte tossing his burning hair,
And Niamh calling Away, come away:
Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,
Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,
Our breasts are heaving our eyes are agleam,
Our arms are waving our lips are apart;
And if any gaze on our rushing band,
We come between him and the deed of his hand,
We come between him and the hope of his heart.
The host is rushing 'twixt night and day,
And where is there hope or deed as fair?
Caoilte tossing his burning hair,
And Niamh calling Away, come away.

[Tony Barnstone]

The Flea

Consider how the flea sucks first at you
then nuzzles in your crotch, skips to your wife
and makes her cry out like she does in sex,
softly, with just a hint of pain. As you
purple your nail, consider that the life
you crush for sucking at your thighs and necks
is but a fleshly bottling of blood,
like you. Now spilled. Consider how the vintage
staining your skin fermented in this flea,
joining your wife and you, two bloods. Why should
a flea live hungering? There’s no advantage
in that. Consider then a thing like me.
I’m like a flea that innocently feeds.
That’s right. Put down the cross. I have my needs.

[Holly Martins]

LOVELORN WITCH

Forget your book of spells,
your signs, your potions and your ring,
you sought advantage over
others, thought black arts would bring
you power, hoped your way
through life would be a bigger laugh
if you could call on super-
natural tricks to smooth the path.

And now you sit and bawl,
black pointed hat with tip askew,
the desperate thumbing through
your spell book was no use to you.
So fold away your stocking,
cape and long black-fingered glove,
what good is sorcery
if you can’t have the one you love?

[Jim Hayes]

Only God Knows What
(Wish I could show Janet's Illustration)


By the evening of the sixth day
most creatures had been named;
yes, God was nearly finished,
save one moniker unclaimed,

one destined for an animal
that crawls along the ground,
that only comes out late at night
to make its dreadful sound.

It lives in drains and basements
and it forages like rats;
its teeth and talons are sharp enough
to scratch the eyes from cats.

It slinks and slides on stairways
as you awake in fright,
shivering to the floorboards
that are creaking in the night.

The windowpane stops rattling,
the house goes quiet and still;
and then you hear a furtive sound
inside your window sill,

and you cry out “There’s something there!”
and Mom soothes you; “There’s not!”
but you insist “There is! There is!”
And only God knows what.

[Lightning Bug]

There're probably not many George Jones/Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans.

"Riley's Blues"

[To the tune of George Jones’“Bartender’s Blues”]

Well, I date the Slayer, and mostly it’s good.
Yeah, her lovin’s what keeps me ali-i-ive.
But I feel like a loser, but I ain’t a boozer,
So,I come to this unholy di-i-ive.

And I need crosses of silver and stakes of wood, to keep all the demons at ba-a-ay,
And a honky tonk vampire to suck me good and help me feel e-vil all day-eee.

Well, once I was awesome, I was tough as they come,
Till they took the chip out’n my chayust.
Now I’m weak as a kitten, and although it ain’t fittin’,
This bar is whar I feels the bayusst

And I need crosses of silver and stakes of wood, to keep all the demons at ba-a-ay,
And a honky tonk vampire to suck me good and help me feel e-vil all day-eee.

Damn, the Slayer just caught me with my vampire ho,
And rurned what had been a fun da-a-ay.
And I got a feelin’, I soon will be reelin’,
She’ll be kickin' my ass till Sunda-a-ay

And I need crosses of silver and stakes of wood, to keep all the demons at ba-a-ay
And a honky tonk vampire to suck me good and help me feel e-vil all day-eee