"All Hallows Night" (A Poem)

From “The Deserted House” and “A Rhyme of Death’s Inn” to “The Dead Ship” and “The Death Potion,” the occult was a major theme in the poetical works of Lizette Woodworth Reese. In this poem, the author uses Halloween and the veil it lifts between the living and the dead to explore the ephemeral nature of life.

 

Two things I did on Hallows Night: -

Made my house April-clear;

Left open wide my door

To the ghosts of the year.

 

Then one came in. Across the room

It stood up long and fair -

The ghost that was myself -

And gave me stare for stare.[1]

 

Works Referenced

 

Reese, Lizette Woodworth. “All Hallows Night.” The Selected Poems of Lizette Woodworth Reese. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1926. 169.

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[1] Reese, 169.