Moonlit Porch, Where the Pumpkins Whisper

The lanterns lean in amber light

On porches dressed in chalk and pine

The pumpkins whisper low and sly

As shadows grin and pass us by

Hear the breeze in the screen door song

Old bones awake where the moon writes strong

He laughed here once in the years along

Now the night says, come along

Oh, trick and treat, we roam the street

With a tap, tap, tap of dancing feet

Warm as cider, wild as flame

Calling every old home name

Oh, trick and treat, he sings tonight

Under jack-o'-lantern eyes so bright

Wasted in stories sweet and strange

'Til the midnight bells exchange

Benjo shakes the apple trees

The hand drums roll like rust and release

A kitchen window softly glows

Where sugar, cinnamon, and memory flows

Someone calls from the gate outside

A child, a deer with a crooked smile

We chase the dark, then we circle back

With candy stars in our coat-sleeve sacks

Oh, trick and treat, we roam the street

With a tap, tap, tap of dancing feet

Warm as cider, wild as flame

Calling every old home name

Oh, trick and treat, please sing tonight

Under jackdaw lantern, I so cry

Spinning stories sweet and strange

'Til the midnight bells exchange

The organ moan through the rafters high

Like an old ghost hymn passing by

But the lantern's hold and the heart stays near

And the laughing keeps the dark sincere

Oh, trick and treat, we roam the street

With a tap, tap, tap of dancing feet

Worn aside, a wildest flame

Calling every old home name

Oh, trick and treat, we sing tonight

Under jack-o'-lantern eyes so bright

Spinning stories sweet and strange

While the old memories return again