All Hallows Eve

There will be no Trick-or-Treaters again this year

at the far end of Pleasant Street where I live,

no little ghosts or goblins, witches or super-heroes,

no rock stars or princesses of the Disney ilk, nor villains,

no little knocks on my door by tiny hands, barely heard,

no “Trick or Treats” on my opening to them, parents

with watchful eyes standing in the background among the shadows,

cautious, and no big bowl of candy, Snickers and 3 Musketeers,

Milk and Dark chocolate, almonds or none, no Gummy Bears,

Tootsie Rolls, or Tootsie Pops, no M&Ms, no big bowl at all

waiting by my door, just as there hasn’t been one there in past years,

no need. Not even the older teenagers with malice in mind

dare venture way out where I live, a long dark walk

through darker woods, the noise of unseen things

staring out, my pumpkins safe, again, from pranksters,

protected, perhaps, by the lost souls of Halloween

rising from their graves, or where they fell down dead, to roam

the small parcel of time and place I share with them, isolated,

these old souls set free this one night of the year,

All Hallows Eve, returning and restless.