While strolling through a woodland glade

The autumn air was crisp and clean,

Then twilight’s glow began to fade

And darken every inch of green;

The air turned eerie, still, and warm,

I sensed the onset of a storm.

 

The rustling leaves began to rise

As chilling swirls upset the air,

My ears were filled with deathly cries:

Cacophonies of wild despair;

I gazed with apprehensive eye

Upon a most portentous sky.

​

At once the thunder raged and roared,

And wrathful lightning forked and flashed,

As livid raindrops poked and poured,

Whilst belching crosswinds howled and thrashed;

I felt exposed and ill at ease

So ran to shelter in the trees.

​

The canopy of leaf and branch

Could barely stem the driving rain,

Despite the teeming avalanche

I thought it better to remain,

Lest further hidden dangers loom

Within this etiolated gloom

​

Then lightning struck upon a tree

And felled a branch that brushed my head,

Two further strikes fell close to me,

My mental compass spun with dread,

Towards the undergrowth I dashed,

As all around me lightning slashed.

​

My equilibrium was rent

Amidst the sounds of clanking chains,

And ghoulish groans of discontent

And phantom screams of anguished pains,

The bolts of lightning followed me

As evil thunder clapped with glee.

​

I ran till I could run no more,

My heart was beating through my chest,

I fell upon the forest floor,

Too tired to run, too scared to rest,

Resigned to death I shed a tear

Then silence filled the atmosphere.

​

Concern was coursing through my veins

For I could sense a presence near,

‘Reveal yourself!’ I cried in pain

And Lo! a spectre did appear,

He held his head inside his arm,

From where he spoke with ghostly charm.

​

“Proceed to where the hemlock grows

And you will hear the Mercy Chimes,

Then lift the hemlock to your nose,

Inhale its scent and say three times:

‘Silvanus, I beseech you, please,

Grant safe passage through thy trees’”

​

Then, as he faded out of sight

The mighty storm revved up again

And I was stranded in the night

In lightning, thunder, wind and rain

Besieged by haunting eyes of owls

And onomatopoeic howls

​

Afraid to dare to speculate

Upon the spectre’s strange decree,

I let my senses navigate

For rational thought abandoned me,

I tripped and fell one hundred times

Then heard the faintest sound of chimes

​

I leaned against an old oak tree

To rest and shelter from the storm,

Instinctively I drooped to see

Around my feet a hemlock swarm,

White flowering heads ubiquitous

And green leaves umbelliferous.

​

I plucked a sprig on bended knee

And held the flower to my nose,

How could this poison set me free?

I pondered as the toxins rose,

But in this hell what choice had I

For surely I was bound to die?

 

My nostrils filled with hemlock scent

Beneath the resonating chimes,

Accepting kismet imminent,

I said the Spectre’s words three times:

‘Silvanus, I beseech you please

Grant safe passage through thy trees’.

​

A creak was followed by a crack

As sapless bark began to rip

With sheer precision, rolling back

To form a horizontal strip,

The oak tree trunk unveiled a door,

My shelter from the forest floor.

​

There was a stairway in the tree

Descending to a corridor

Containing light, so I could see

The muddy walls and roof and floor,

And soon the source of light was clear,

A lustrous, floating, spectral sphere.

​

The air was thin, my chest felt tight

Inside the labyrinthine maze,

I turned and twisted, left and right,

Escorted by the spectral haze,

Although I felt no hint of fear

I kept my distance at its rear.

​

Exhausted by the lack of air

I felt I could go on no more,

My journey seemed to lead nowhere

Then suddenly we reached a door,

I ventured through to greet the dawn

Beneath the oak on my back lawn.

​

The greatest moment of my life

Was followed by my greatest fright,

What am I going to tell my wife

About the strange events last night?

Would she believe where I had been

Upon the night of Halloween?