On Halloween nobody knows
where Mr. Golden Whiskers goes.
His eyes of emerald green turn red.
He bounds across the garden bed,
jumps the fence and disappears
with eerie howls and laid-back ears,
then takes a trip across the sky
to scare the clouds and make them cry.
I thought I saw him through the gloom
behind an old witch on her broom.
The north wind told me it believes
he guards the spirits of autumn leaves
and guides the goblins as they pass
through walls and shuttered window glass.
When his long journey is complete,
he wanders home on weary feet.
Mr. Golden Whiskers sighs
and looks at me with haunted eyes.
He’ll never tell the things he’s seen.
He’s had enough of Halloween.
—
LaVern Spencer McCarthy has written and published twelve books of poetry and fiction. Her work has appeared in Writers and Readers Magazine; Meadowlark Reader; Agape Review; Bards Against Hunger; Down In The Dirt; The Evening Universe; Fresh Words Magazine; Wicked Shadows Press; Midnight Magazine; Pulp Cult Press and others. She is a life member of Poetry Society of Texas. She resides in Blair Oklahoma where she is currently writing her sixth book of short stories.