BENTON, Joel

Hallowe'en

Pixie, kobold, elf, and sprite

All are on their rounds to-night,—

In the wan moon’s silver ray

Thrives their helter-skelter play.

Fond of cellar, barn, or stack

True unto the almanac,

They present to credulous eyes

Strange hobgoblin mysteries.

Cabbage-stumps—straws wet with dew—

Apple-skins, and chestnuts too,

And a mirror for some lass

Show what wonders come to pass.

Doors they move, and gates they hide

Mischiefs that on moonbeams ride

Are their deeds,—and, by their spells,

Love records its oracles.

Don’t we all, of long ago

By the ruddy fireplace glow,

In the kitchen and the hall,

Those queer, coof-like pranks recall?

Every shadows were they then—

But to-night they come again;

Were we once more but sixteen

Precious would be Hallowe’en.