Tamara Beryl Latham - The Poet

The Darkest Halloween

  

The Darkest Halloween

 

Under cloak of a midnight sky,

on Halloween, the moon was full.

An eerie sight soon caught my eye,

I viewed his body being pulled.

 

The dirt unearthed was moist and fresh,

once the grave where he\'d been placed.

A man of forty, so I\'d guessed,

I could, just barely, see his face.

 

When I moved in closer still,

five tombstones there surrounded me,

and chanting in the night air filled,

the prophesies of mystery.

 

On this day, so prophesied,

chanting of a thousand witches,

would raise the dead from all the tombs,

all the morgues and crypts and ditches.

 

At the stroke of twelve, or so,

while stirring fast strange witches brew,

their voices filled the midnight hour,

and chanted \'til the stroke of two.

 

Potions, cauldrons, signs of death,

raised my hair, as I held my breath.

\"Ravens, Banshees, Owls and Trolls,

raise the bones of forty souls.\"

 

Witches moved to form an arc,

and in the center placed the man, 

then dripped the blood of forty larks,

that severed both his lifeless hands.

 

When the chanting nearly ceased,

his hands began to fly like bats,

and to the air white doves released,

soon followed by black howling cats.

 

Beyond fear, I was a wreck.

I told my feet to pick up steam,

but one hand grabbed me \'round the neck

on this, the darkest, Halloween.

 

So, next time as you walk alone,

in the dark, on a moonlit night, 

remember the rest of his bones

are out there to fill you with fright.

 

The witches \"sign of the five,\"

are points of a star bringing death.

At this moment you\'re still alive,

while I am still catching my breath.

 

Each Halloween at midnight, 

his body still roams, that\'s no joke.

His hands are still able to fly,

and next time they\'ll fly at your throat.