Hallowe’en

Pixie, kobold, elf, and sprite
All are on their rounds to-night,
In the wan moon’s silver ray
Thrives their helter-skelter play.

Fond of cellar, barn, or stack,
True unto the almanac,
They present to credulous eyes
Strange hobgoblin mysteries.

Cabbage-stumps, straws wet with dew,
Apple-skins, and chestnuts too,
And a mirror for some lass
Show what wonders come to pass.

Doors they move, and gates they hide,
Mischiefs that on moonbeams ride
Are their deeds, and, by their spells,
Love records its oracles.

Don’t we all, of long ago,
By the ruddy fireplace glow,
In the kitchen and the hall,
Those queer, coof-like pranks recall?

Eery shadows were they then,
But to-night they come again;
Were we once more but sixteen,
Precious would be Hallowe’en.