Halloween Poetry
Twilight Songs for the Autumn People
It has been almost a month since my last posting, and I really must apologise to you all. Extensive travel took me successively to Denmark, Poland, New England, New York, and Croatia, and I was a bit exhausted. I have something planned for you next week rather more in-depth, called “Deep Europe.”
But with Halloween so close, I figured to give you some light, pleasant reading. For those who want to go a bit more in depth on the topic in terms of background and celebration, I offer two books: Robert Haven Schauffler’s masterful Hallowe’en; its origin, spirit, celebration, and significance as related in prose and verse, together with Hallowe’en stories, plays, pantomimes; and suggestions for games, stunts, parties, feasts and decorations, and Elizabeth Guptill’s The Complete Hallowe’e’n Book. These should well serve to sate your desire for Halloween prose.
Now let’s look at some poems, starting with the question of October itself. My late friend, Ray Bradbury, produced an almost prose-poem of what he called, “The October Country,” declaring it to be “That country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain.”
Given that mood, let us now look at a long poem of Lovecraft’s dedicated to this month, which seems to touch all its various themes in his usual deft manner: