Darkness creeps
Fear seeps
Human sleeps
Spirit sneaks.
Graves reopen
Dead awoken
Tombs are broken
Terror unspoken.
Ghosts do ride
Far and wide
Those who died
Will not hide.
Stay in bed
Shun the dead
This night of dread
Till dark has fled.
If you liked my poems, this one comes from the book, From July to December. One Poem a Day, Book 2. You can buy it by clicking on the book cover in the sidebar.
Tonight is Halloween. This is an ancient festival that we have adapted to our own times. This poem harks back to those times when people really believed that the spirits of the dead could return to Earth, including demons and other malevolent creatures.
The moon has hidden her face tonight
Turned away from the Earth.
The clouds are scurrying away in fright
From what the night may give birth,
For tonight the veil is thin.
The wind is blowing the leaves around.
They hide in crannies and nooks.
Cowering, shivering, hope not to be found
By phantoms, ghosts and spooks,
For tonight the veil may tear.
Build a bonfire, create some light.
The spirits are afraid.
They like the shadows, shun what’s bright
And lurk within the shade
For tonight they cross the veil.
Ghouls and spectres, wraiths and shades
Return to Earth tonight.
We’re filled with dread as daylight fades.
The smallest sound will give us fright
For tonight the veil has gone.
This poem appears in my poetry book, Miscellaneous Thoughts. It is available in your favourite store, as ebook, or ‘real’ book.
There are more Halloween poems there as well as others from the various seasons, the countries of the UK, limericks, Haiku and many other things.
Most of my poetry is rhyming poems, so if you enjoy that kind of poetry, you will probably enjoy my poems.
Did you like my poem? All comments will be read and answered. Add yours in the comments box.
Today I welcome one of my favourite poets to my blog.
Kevin Morris is a poet who writes both humorous and serious poetry. I will hand over to Kevin now, and he can explain about his poetry much better than I can.
I have, for as long as I can remember, been a lover of poetry. The first poem I recollect having read is Alfred Noyes’s “The Highwayman”, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43187/the-highwayman. I was (and remain)entranced by the rhythm of the poem and how it matches the beat of the horse’s feet, as the Highwayman approaches the inn:
“The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door”.
I find good rhyming poetry profoundly beautiful, and much of my own work is written in rhyme. Take, for example my poem “Autumn Fly”, which appears in my forthcoming collection, “Light and Shade: Serious (and Not so Serious) poems”.
“An autumn fly
Buzzes around my head.
Summer is dead
Yet will not die.
Seasons pass.
We are brittle as glass,
This fly
And I”.
Whilst sitting in my study, in late autumn, a fly began buzzing around my head. This brought to mind the mortality of this tiny insect and also that of man. Hence the above poem was born.
I have many happy memories of strolling through the woods with my grandfather and it was from him that I gained my love of nature. This affection for nature was, I believe encouraged further by my reading of poems such as Keats “Autumn”. Much of my own poetry touches on the theme of nature. Take, for example my poem “Rain”.
“The rain
Patters amongst these leaves.
I listen again
And ascertain
That it’s the breeze
Midst these trees.
Yet it sounds the same
As rain”.
As with “Autumn Fly”, “Rain” came to me naturally as a rhyming poem. I could not have expressed what I wished to convey had I utilised free verse, as rhyme comes naturally to me, whilst other forms of poetic expression do not.
Whilst there exists some wonderful poetry composed in free verse, to me much free verse is poetic prose rather than true poetry. Many poems written in free verse are beautiful. However, for me their beauty resides in their poetic prose, they are not, in my opinion poetry as I understand it (I.E. with real rhyme and metre).
One can not always be serious, and section 2 of “Light and Shade” is devoted to my humorous verses. Take, for example my poem “Jane’s Sad Refrain”:
“A young lady named Jane
Sang a most mournful refrain.
I could repeat her song,
As it wouldn’t take long,
But it’s copyright of Jane!”
To conclude. Poetry is, for me about rhyme and its rhyme with which I feel most comfortable. There is, as I said, some wonderful free verse poetry out there. However, for me at least much of this (but by no means all) is poetic prose rather than poetry proper.
(“Light and Shade: Serious (and Not so Serious) Poems”, by Kevin Morris will be available in the Amazon Kindle store, and as a paperback in July 2020).
Links:
Blog: https://kmorrispoet.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drewdog2060_
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6879063.K_Morris
Thank you, Kevin, for telling us more about your poetry. I agree with you about free verse. It’s something I’ve thought for a long time. I have written poetry that doesn’t rhyme, but it always has rhythm. And I love the poem about Jane!
I would encourage everyone to search out your poetry books and to visit your blog.
Good luck with this latest one. I look forward to its publication.
If you have any comments to either myself, or Kevin, please enter them in the comments box. Feel free to reblog this.
When the Hallowe’en Poetry Contest arrived once more, I was stuck for ideas, having done it for the last 4 years. I needed inspiration.
I didn’t want to go down the ‘isn’t it a fun holiday’ route because I don’t think it is. It’s All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saints’ Day when the Christian Church celebrates all the saints who have died before.
It’s also Samhain, when the pre-Christian religion celebrated their ancestors and welcomed them into their homes.
My father died when I was very small. I only have a few vague memories of him, and so I decided to write a poem thinking of him, and, if the pre-Christians are right, he would come to visit me every year.
I hope you enjoy this. I know it’s a bit late for Hallowe’en, but never mind!
I Died.
I didn’t want to go.
I left my wife and daughter so
I cried.
I thought
I could no longer see
All their future without me.
I fought.
I found
That each All Hallows Eve,
I could return—I need not grieve.
Not bound.
I come
To them each Hallowe’en.
They do not know. I am not seen.
I’m dumb.
They live
And I surround them both
With all my love which I’m not loath
To give.
Here ends my tale.
I will be filled with endless glee
When they come to dwell with me
Beyond the veil.
Dragons Rule OK. V.M.Sang (author) 