The Watchman of Hallows’ Eve
written by: Edward Wraith
On Hallows’ Eve, when mystic moonlight weaves,
Through bewailing boughs and lamenting leaves,
The Jack-o’-lantern’s spectral gaze doth fall,
On shadows dancing at this macabre ball.
From twisted roots and branches bare,
From darkened woods, emerging eyes stare.
Haunting laughter echoes through the night,
A sinister symphony of fret and fright.
Jack views the village, veiled in fear,
In costumes donned, young souls beaming cheer.
Yet, lurking ‘neath their festive guise,
A darkness deep, where ancient evil lies.
With grasping hands and wrathful eyes,
Dark wraiths in shadows draped, where moonlight dies.
Their slithering forms, a chilling sight,
A foreboding breeze stirs the dead of night.
The children laugh with voices high,
Yet shadows loom beneath a blood-moon sky.
As death’s whispers are faintly heard,
Borne upon the wings of a sable bird.
Through desolate alleys and cold, cobbled lanes,
Shadows creep as scarlet skies weep eldritch rain.
Foreboding cries drift upon the breeze,
As they hunt for children in crimson moonbeams.
The sable bird with eyes of coal,
A harbinger grim, to claim each soul.
Its caw a curse, a banshee’s cry,
Piercing the ears of those doomed to die.
Screaming children flee from the street,
Cowering beneath their beds; with tremors, they weep.
Yet, the shadowed wraiths with eyes aglow—
Shall pursue them forth, wheresoever they go.
With skeletal fingers and toothsome grins,
They seek forth the souls to claim their sins.
As the village succumbs to dread and fright,
Children are dragged to the forest of eternal night.
In solemn vigil, silent and grim,
The Jack-o’-lantern watches the rim.
’Twixt shadowed realms of dark and light,
The dead walk amongst the living this night.
When dawn breaks o’er the shadowed plain,
The pumpkin’s glow doth slowly wane.
Yet, in its heart, an infernal ember burns bright—
A Watchman of darkness, till death claims the night.
- The Watchman of Hallows’ Eve - October 24, 2024
- Shadow’s Sonnet: My Silent Companion - September 11, 2024
- A Fading Ember - June 11, 2024
