Happy Halloween!

Jack O Lanterns

From morganglines at Flickr, some rights reserved

"Hallowe'en in a Suburb" by H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)

The steeples are white in the wild moonlight,
And the trees have a silver glare;
Past the chimneys high see the vampires fly,
And the harpies of upper air,
That flutter and laugh and stare.

For the village dead to the moon outspread
Never shone in the sunset's gleam,
But grew out of the deep that the dead years keep
Where the rivers of madness stream
Down the gulfs to a pit of dream.

A chill wind weaves through the rows of sheaves
In the meadows that shimmer pale,
And comes to twine where the headstones shine
And the ghouls of the churchyard wail
For harvests that fly and fail.

Not a breath of the strange grey gods of change
That tore from the past its own
Can quicken this hour, when a spectral power
Spreads sleep o'er the cosmic throne,
And looses the vast unknown.

So here again stretch the vale and plain
That moons long-forgotten saw,
And the dead leap gay in the pallid ray,
Sprung out of the tomb's black maw
To shake all the world with awe.

And all that the morn shall greet forlorn,
The ugliness and the pest
Of rows where thick rise the stones and brick,
Shall some day be with the rest,
And brood with the shades unblest.

Then wild in the dark let the lemurs bark,
And the leprous spires ascend;
For new and old alike in the fold
Of horror and death are penned,
For the hounds of Time to rend.

All of the above is lifted from Amy H. Sturgis whose daily countdown to Halloween has provided me with a lot of seasonal fun.

For other All Hallow's Eve goodness, don't forget my post below. Or go to these places:

• The Anchoress tells us that she still loves Halloween and has the most adorable little fellow in costume to support her words
• Myles has a scary picture, which I loved
• Brandywine Books points to an interview where the author of the Exorcist says he wasn't trying to write a horror novel, " I thought I was writing was a novel of faith in the popular dress of a thrilling and suspenseful detective story - in other words, a sermon that no one could possibly sleep through"
• Next-Door Nature tells us about the scary Raven. Scary-smart, that is!
• Joseph at Zombie Parent's Guide reviews Night of the Living Dead
• The Truth About Halloween ... it was a Christian holiday first. Both The Curt Jester and Darwin Catholic point us to this piece, which I have read before and continue to need to read just about every year
• B-Movie Catechism, one of my favorite horror movie/Catholic stops in the interwebs, has lots and lots o' links that I will be checking out. Go thou and do likewise!
• Annie's Eats has Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies. They're horribly delicious!