Their town had a Halloween celebration
That year
And Chester went with all his friends
He laughed and talked,
Like any teen,
At the edge of the woods where the bonfire blazed.
The sun had set
Darkness took the fields and the forests.
Tonight was the night when the spirits and fae roamed free,
Both evil and good.
The bonfire threw dancing orange light
On the trunks of the trees as they reached their branches
Towards the moonlit sky
He remembered his nights of trick-or-treating
But vaguely
He remembered the magic of this night
Only a little
As he laughed and talked with his friends,
Holding a mug of hot cider in his cold hands.
But when they drifted away,
He saw what he'd seen
Many years before.
He felt the magic of this night, he felt the world
That lay beyond.
And he stepped into the trees.
The bonfire roared cheerily behind him, far away
Far past with the safety and the crowds.
He was past that now.
He was no longer a part of it.
He was on the edge
Of the veil that held the worlds apart
He was there, and he saw
The ghostly specter he had seen
So long ago.
Tall and thin
Pale white face,
And empty black sockets for eyes
A leering grin
A cackling laugh
The long slender limbs and furtive slink
That characterized Skeleton Jack
So far away, from the warm safe haven
The cozy bright fire
Ringed with grinning Jack o' lanterns
To keep away the mischievous spirits
Of that other world.
You want to come with me, don't you?
Yes, of course I do.
Escape from that world, where things are so dull
And so ordered
And predictable
Escape with me to a world
Of magic and mystery.
Where things have color, and life
And energy
Where emotions leap high
Magick leaps higher
And best of all,
You can fly.
I remember flying before.
Yes, I did it then.
Against a black sky
Carpeted with glittering stars
And a full moon
Which cast its silver light
Over everything it saw.
I've missed it for so long.
Then come with me, I will take you there.
Yes, I'll go with you,
And escape this world,
Where the chains bind you down
And the others trample you
As heartlessly as they feed on each other.
Are there trees there?
Yes, there is everything. Life is there
But it changes and it flows
And it is always wonderful.
Let me go with you then, please.
I would like to,
But first you must breathe your last
As you know
These two worlds
Are so far apart
That to cross between them
Takes much more than it did in the past.
You can come without dying
But you can't ever stay
Until you are born there
As one of the fae
And Chester turned back
So afraid of death
As he was
It felt so uncertain,
And so he returned
To the warm cheery fire
That held the spirits at bay
But it now was a prison
With bars of flame
Locking him away
From that world
That felt so much like home.
That year
And Chester went with all his friends
He laughed and talked,
Like any teen,
At the edge of the woods where the bonfire blazed.
The sun had set
Darkness took the fields and the forests.
Tonight was the night when the spirits and fae roamed free,
Both evil and good.
The bonfire threw dancing orange light
On the trunks of the trees as they reached their branches
Towards the moonlit sky
He remembered his nights of trick-or-treating
But vaguely
He remembered the magic of this night
Only a little
As he laughed and talked with his friends,
Holding a mug of hot cider in his cold hands.
But when they drifted away,
He saw what he'd seen
Many years before.
He felt the magic of this night, he felt the world
That lay beyond.
And he stepped into the trees.
The bonfire roared cheerily behind him, far away
Far past with the safety and the crowds.
He was past that now.
He was no longer a part of it.
He was on the edge
Of the veil that held the worlds apart
He was there, and he saw
The ghostly specter he had seen
So long ago.
Tall and thin
Pale white face,
And empty black sockets for eyes
A leering grin
A cackling laugh
The long slender limbs and furtive slink
That characterized Skeleton Jack
So far away, from the warm safe haven
The cozy bright fire
Ringed with grinning Jack o' lanterns
To keep away the mischievous spirits
Of that other world.
You want to come with me, don't you?
Yes, of course I do.
Escape from that world, where things are so dull
And so ordered
And predictable
Escape with me to a world
Of magic and mystery.
Where things have color, and life
And energy
Where emotions leap high
Magick leaps higher
And best of all,
You can fly.
I remember flying before.
Yes, I did it then.
Against a black sky
Carpeted with glittering stars
And a full moon
Which cast its silver light
Over everything it saw.
I've missed it for so long.
Then come with me, I will take you there.
Yes, I'll go with you,
And escape this world,
Where the chains bind you down
And the others trample you
As heartlessly as they feed on each other.
Are there trees there?
Yes, there is everything. Life is there
But it changes and it flows
And it is always wonderful.
Let me go with you then, please.
I would like to,
But first you must breathe your last
As you know
These two worlds
Are so far apart
That to cross between them
Takes much more than it did in the past.
You can come without dying
But you can't ever stay
Until you are born there
As one of the fae
And Chester turned back
So afraid of death
As he was
It felt so uncertain,
And so he returned
To the warm cheery fire
That held the spirits at bay
But it now was a prison
With bars of flame
Locking him away
From that world
That felt so much like home.