We love summer evenings, their warmth and their glow
We stay out all night without shame
But the good evening sun seems suddenly low
In the burgeoning chill, and the absence of light
We start to grow wary of long, dark nights
Now hiding indoors from the wind and the rain
Cold evenings just don’t feel the same
We worry about what the shadows contain
Concocting new nightmares, we struggle to fight
The fear and despair in these long dark nights
But facing despair, together we share scares
And nightmares, through movies, are tamed
Roaming the streets with fake blood, teeth and hair
With pantomime roars and shrieks of delight
We gather and celebrate long, dark nights
With monsters unmasked as our friends and our kin
With shadows turned into a game
With fears and nightmares no longer within
Our hearts and our souls perhaps we just might
Sleep soundly, at last, through the long, dark nights
Written for an autumn/halloween poem competition at work
Ludiotic 