ALL HALLOWS EVE

I used to think All Hallows Eve was Harmless.

 

Kids in masks or make-up or elaborate costumes,

(a white sheet with holes for the eyes is anything but elaborate);

Kids, unaccompanied, hanging on the door bell, grabbing handfuls of sweets, throwing eggs at the homes of the uncooperative;

Kids, selfish, stealing the "HAW, HAW, HAAW" doorknocker and ruining the fun;

Kids herded by grownups who hover in embarrassment by the garden gate;

Grownups who call, ‘only one each' and 'what do you say?'.

 

Grownups at parties;

Sexy witches, horny devils, sexy, horny zombies, sexy ghosts,

(a white sheet with holes for the eyes is anything but sexy);

Listening to "The Monster Mash", "Grim Grinning Ghosts" and "Thriller";

Bobbing for apples, playing wink murder;

Stay at home types watching "Halloween" box sets, or Disney's "Happy Haunting" sing along songs,

(Donald Duck in a white sheet with holes for the eyes is anything but haunting).

 

Shop front windows decorated with spider webs and skeletons;

Supermarket aisles draped in Halloween bunting;

Spooky candle holders, plush toys that sing & dance, fake dismembered body parts, pumpkins;

Food rebranded as "terrifying" or "slimy" or "scary";

"special edition" trifles and cakes, yoghurts and crumpets,

(a ghost shaped crumpet is anything but scary).

 

I used to think All Hallows' Eve was harmless

All Hallows' Eve is anything but harmless.

 

The witches exist,

Malicious and deadly and fell;

The devils exist,

Soulless and evil and cruel;

The zombies exist,

Remorseless and driven and foul;

The ghosts exist,

Relentless and heartless and chill.

 

A witch killed my wife with a curse,

It happened one All Hallows Eve;

A devil took her soul unto Satan,

It was plundered that All Hallows Eve;

A zombie her body morphed into,

She attacked me that All Hallows Eve;

Her ghost returns every year just to taunt me,

She haunts me on….

 

I used to think All Hallows' Eve was harmless.

 

copyright D M Pamment 2018