Hallowe’en Rhapsody
by Kevin Trammel
Written while listening to Tartini’s Devil’s Trill

The Devil crouches low
in the dry moonless field
and watches with wide black eyes
the dim lights of the house in the wood.

Plucking foxtail from his wool
he slowly chews and spits and chuckles.
Twisting his beard absently he turns
to whisper orders to his messenger hellhound.

His voice rasps in the night
like a violin bow dragged dryly
over a rusting weather-cock − birds
startled fly from their leaf-wrapped night-beds.

Inside the house, laughter, reminiscences.
A drink of wine, a swallow of apple.
A fond story told of future days.
A memoriam chanted over hallowed ground.