Poetry Friday: (Sort of ) Celebrating Halloween a little early....

Poetry Friday is hosted by Linda at Teacherdance

Next Wednesday is Halloween...and I'll be the first to admit that I am NOT a fan of this day.  I dislike the whole costume-and-candy hoopla, and I especially dislike the way Halloween changes the whole teaching day - my students walk in excitable and wild...and stay that way all day. Sigh. But, there is one aspect about Halloween that I really do love and enjoy - jack o'lanterns, especially ones that look like this:

  

And, I also love the fact that Halloween comes at a time when trees look like this:

And, I also love the fact that this time of year reminds us of poems like this:

Theme in Yellow

BY CARL SANDBURG

I SPOT the hills

With yellow balls in autumn.

I light the prairie cornfields

Orange and tawny gold clusters

And I am called pumpkins.

On the last of October

When dusk is fallen

Children join hands

And circle round me

Singing ghost songs

And love to the harvest moon;

I am a jack-o'-lantern

With terrible teeth

And the children know

I am fooling.

And this:

Song of the Witches

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.

Happy Halloween, everyone!