Description: This is a different view of Halloween. Not sure that I like the ending, but tell me what you think.
Waching the Child Parade -------------------------------------------
<B>Watching the Child Parade</B>
Shrub leaves lie curled in the dormant yard
Trees shiver in their nakedness
As a crisp autumn wind exhales
Into the barren night sky.
On the corner of Walnut and Maple
The Old Crowder House fights for breath
Creaking and moaning with age and neglect
Too decrepit to shelter life beyond a few strays.
There in the cupola she sits
In the long forgotten platform rocker
Watching the child parade with eager longing
As they wander from house to house.
Will one look up to give her a smile?
Will they even notice her there in her chair
Rocking as she has done for a lifetime or two
Mourning the loss of her own.
She hears a child's cry echo through the night
And notices a boy clinging to his mother
<i>Does he see me? Will I finally be released?</i>
Alas, it's just the cats and startled birds.
And so she sits. Waiting and Rocking;
Rocking and Waiting for that magic night
When the hallowed sing and dance
Under a barren sky as the cool winds exhale,
And the marchers of the child parade
Finally look up and notice the wraith,
Longing for a child's smile
As they pass on their way to the next treat.
There in the cupola she sits In the long forgotten platform rocker Watching the child parade with eager longing As they wander from house to house.
Will one look up to give her a smile? Will they even notice her there in her chair Rocking as she has done for a lifetime or two Mourning the loss of her own.
I have to say that this is my favorite part. Your work is awesome, and it inspires me. Hopefully in time, I can get up the courage to keep trying to write. It's been years since I've had that "poetic influx" which is the term I use to describe a time when I could write about anything and everything. I'm not even sure if that's the right word, but it sounds good to me.
BTW, Lover's haven is my very first post. You have to click on that View All thing at the bottom to find it.
Keep up the great work. I will be reading more of your work soon.
Ahhh Halloween is about. Interesting thoughts on how elderly people think. We ought to give more respect to the elderly and actually talk and smile along with them.
When the hallows sing and dance i would change maybe to hallowed, but if thats what you were going for, by all means keep it. I seriously love this poem.. and everything in it. The ending was thougtful and a slow climax, and i thought it fit very well. I truly loved the theme, and the free falling of the words. i felt as though i was in this potrait you painted so clearly on canvas. awesome write, especcially with halloween near
now hun, how yuong is that lady ghost? I would like to meet her. that's juste a ghost lover. like i said this is interesting, but not scary.you did a good job painting a picture with words.
hey.. I really liked this piece! I was looking through alot of your work.. and it's all very impressive, I plan to keep reading your future entries, casue you're a really good writer. I really like this one because its original, and makes you think of how that lady would be feeling.. and others like her, which you normally dont think of. THe second stanza was my favorite.. it has a great rhyming scheme and flow.. good job!
i really like this. it made me sad, though, thinking of that poor little wraith alone and rocking, waiting for some child to see her. it is quite beautiful and haunting. i'll be looking for her in the next decrepit "haunted" house i come across!
I love Halloween, and usually poetry on the subject is all full of black cats, witches, ghosts in little white sheets- you know, very cliché. This however was VERY haunting. It was so eerie, gave me goosebumps on this part:
"Rocking as she has done for a lifetime or two Mourning the loss of her own"
Submission Name: Waching the Child Parade
