A Halloween Tree (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo

[Author’s Note: Has anyone read Ray Bradbury’s story, The Halloween Tree, or seen the animated film adaptation of it with Leonard Nimoy? I would definitely recommend it, especially the special, since the focus is on how Halloween as a holiday has developed over the centuries.]

Have you seen
the Halloween Tree

where pumpkins hang
in place of leaves

Each one carved
with a different face

 to represent
   a soul displaced

     Which flickers
      inside a new frame

         as a radiant
           candleflame?

Every year they accumulate
 on the tree

  until their caretaker
     sets them all free

The Grim Reaper
 to guide everyone

   far into
     distant realms beyond

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