Veiled
written by: Linda Marie Hilton
The harvest has been taken in
Winter’s approach is looking grim
We have reaped what crops we’ve sown, now
The fields await blankets of snow.
Fields’ boundaries marked with hedges thick
Tough to pass through without a nick
Unless one is a tiny bird
Or a spider as witch’s weird.
Such a boundary between bounty
And sparseness of a wicked road!
So we bow our heads now and wait
What year end brings in terms of fate.
The dead will rise like pea soup fog
All around us caught in a bog
The hedges matter not at all
On this last night of autumn’s fall
Into winter grim, cold as ice
Only warmed with pumpkin spice:
The bone cold dead walk by this night
Reminding us of Hade’s cruel might.
Some are lonely, wanting friendly
Cups of tea laced with brandy.
Some seek revenge for murder done,
So we listen, for God’s will be done.
Without our crops we would be thin
Until like skeletons: done in.
Our hedge against life’s fateful end
Might be fat or maybe quite thin.
So on this last night of the year,
Let us confront our natural fears:
Now we knit our wool, weave our cloth:
A hedge against the coming frost.
Our very skin keeps death away:
Our skins as hedge to keep we pray.
Should death come near with vengeful wroth
We’ll flutter, helpless, like a moth;
Yet worse: no chrysalis to build
Mere peasants: no sword can we wield.
Our woodpiles high with fuel are stacked,
A hedge not seen: bright crackling warmth
To ward off cold: cruel death’s hunger,
And stave off lying six feet under.
The veil twixt life and evil death
Is in many forms such as our breath.
Some are seen, a precipice deep,
Others lack form, causing us to weep.
So on this last night: Hallowe’en
Let us be kind to those unseen
Let us be kind all the year long
And never forget to whom we belong.
- Veiled - October 26, 2025
- Winter’s Paean - February 24, 2025
- Beware The Moon - October 23, 2024
