A Ghoulish Time for Fun by Fausto Avendaño

They rise at night from old tombstones
ghouls and skeletons with noisy bones.
They seek to scare children with horrid cries
showing their faces devoid of eyes.

They march down darkened streets
where many treats, boys and girls seek.
They tag along with little girls,
sizing up their little heads with pretty curls.

They search for naughty children, and their tricks,
those who splatter eggs on homes of bricks.
They throw tomatoes on houses’ sidings
and knock down signs with welcome writings.

On October thirty first crowds of ghosts
scramble out from their putrid posts.
They scare the little ones with their ghostly face,
stalking them in a frightening race.
As the children turn to run,
the specters chase them just for fun.

Some skeletons dance with grudging partners,
others conjure up their spells with devil sponsors.
All night the monsters frolic until late
dismissing their awful, gruesome fate.
They’re dead, they know, but they don’t care.
for all they want to do is scare.

But then they see far out on the horizon
The bluish light of dawn arising.

At once, a well-dressed specter from Paree
announces loudly “C’est fini!”
The time has come to stop all fun.
Back into their crypts the big and little monsters run.
Back into their yearlong slumber.
Until October comes around again.
They shout out this last refrain:
“Our night will soon be gone,
but we’ll be back, it won’t be long.”

Fausto Avendaño is a writer and an emeritus professor from Sacramento, California. He has published short stories and poetry in American and foreign journals, novels and a play. Fausto has won two literary prizes in the United States and abroad. Some of his books are featured on the Internet.