Halloween Fire Spirits' Revival

HALLOWEEN FIRE SPIRITS’ REVIVAL Before building the fire We dug out a lawn square To keep the ash we knew would be there And stacked the sods near the pyre. The lawn fits back well – No ghost of last year’s flame. Each Halloween it’s the same – There is no grave hole to tell. Papers, cardboard, gasoline, - oh ! The hissing from a heap Of slippery wet leaves Like a snake’s last scream. Swarms of sparks stream In hot gas gusts to the eaves, Burning out as they leap, Falling as warm grey dust. Soot flakes like scattered crows Fly skyward, black and ragged From damp dead wood’s jagged Heat - soaked spars’ and oars’ Life-after-life in a final burst. Each deadened ember Sends a second soul To the lifeless hole With a final life to remember.