Halloween be thy name.

Halloween be thy name.

From deep in the heartland

The Bible-belt

The puritanical shaker

Maker

Where witches were burned,

Pagans hung,

The worst of them castrated,

Druids confined to Arthurian

Legend,

Grimm stories from old countries,

A saucerful of secrets,

Fanatics and fantasists

Fled

To a new world

Practicing ancient ritual

Fire and brimstone

According to their faith

With God on their side

And without any hint of irony.

Even as times change

The message

Remains the same

The word writ,

Ever larger

Intolerance of difference

An existential threat

A spiritual presence

Confined to ecclesiastical matters

The bowed head

Baptismal font

Collection bowl

All hail the confessional

Make of it what you will

As long as it is in keeping

With the text

Read it

Nothing important is left out

If not written

It does not exist

The land is as flat as the eye can see

The world revolves around

You and me

We

Still believe in magic

Not just in Merlin.

Wizardry may be uplifting

But Demons are plentiful,

The Devil’s handiwork

Is a ghost in the machine.

Revelation is a truth drug

Halloween is a capitalist charade

Trick or treat

An integral part of the fabric.

A national treasure,

Born out of the gloom

Of the Dark Ages,

When all souls are created equal

And all,

From Morning Star

To midnight mass,

Is within the realm

Of the supernatural.