A Hallowe’en treat from Mom, dated 1999.

Best read out loud, I think:

The Man Who Kept Watch Over Pumpkins

He dubbed them Tweedledum and Tweedledee
and dreamed them huge as harvest moons
one he would carve into a castle
the other would be laughing Jack O’Lantern

Extravaganza! he would cry
inciting them to grow
he knew their seed and soil were paramount
with sun and rain
they nursed inside the earth
and bloomed above it

Protecting them from thieves and varmints
the old man guarded them in day and dark
umbrella weather
he spoke and sang to them his darlings
he never raised such offspring in his house
obedient and beautiful and so obese
they glowed from dawn to dusk
and in his firelight at night

The town librarian requested them
to show the children
we are all children the old man cried
come to my house on Hallowe’en and see them

However he conveyed them to his porch
remains a mystery
but there they were on Hallowe’en
the castle and the jack o’lantern
the ghosts and goblins came in awe
laid down an offering
a candy bar some fudge a caramel apple
the old man still kept watch
in costume on a rocking chair between them

~ joan vayo ~ September 29, 1999

Here’s a little something extra pumpkin-y from a public-domain photo site:

Happy Hallowe’en to one and all!

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“The Man Who Kept Watch Over Pumpkins” ©1999 Joan Vayo. All rights reserved.

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