Get Haunted

As the harvest is cleared
And the frost settles,
As the coals are banked
And the streams thicken
And slow;

As the clocks are turned back
And the dark creeps forward,
We feel ourselves to be
Briefly,
Miraculously alive.
We don masks,
Capes,
Wings --

We laugh and eat sugar,
And briefly gain the power
Of living
Over the unbeatable
Truth of Beyond.

Behind the scrim of childish screams
And the pointed hats
And the sparkling wands;
Beyond the luminescent fangs
And plastic scars

Is a great truth:

Spirits wait for you --

Wait with hollow eyes
And huge, beating hearts --

Wait for you to acknowledge,
To remember:

Remember that you once
Thanked God for them,
Sang songs to them,
Slammed doors,
Told lies,
Shed tears for them --

Lived with them.

All they ask,
On this night,
Is that you reach
From your precarious perch
Toward their waiting souls,
And so briefly, bravely
Complete the circuit
Of
Life.

--Mr. Gobley