You heap the logs and try to fill
The little room with words and cheer,
But silent feet are on the hill,
Across the window veiled eyes peer.
The hosts of lovers, young in death,
Go seeking down the world to-night,
Remembering faces, warmth and breath—
And they shall seek till it is light.
Then let the white-flaked logs burn low,
Lest those who drift before the storm
See gladness on our hearth and know
There is no flame can make them warm.

– All Souls’ Night, 1917 by Hortense King Flexner, from Clouds and Cobblestones, 1920.

Related Posts:

– “Hallows’ E’en” by Winifred M. Letts

– “Haunted Seas” by Cale Young Rice

– “Ainigmata” by Barry Eric Odell Pain

Categories: Poetry and Prose

Tags: All Soul's Day, ghost stories, ghosts, halloween, Halloween poems, Halloween poetry, Hortense King Flexner, poems, poetry