AH, AUTUMN!

It's here!  For some reason this is a pretty prolific "story" time of year for me.  Witness that this year my annual traditional ghost story writing, which has been happening for several years, manifested itself into two different stories. I am planning to share those stories here, but first a little warm up.

Last year I got involved with Stephanie Mesler's Word Association Haiku Challenge, and for over three months I wrote haiku on a regular basis: single, double, cycles.  It was huge fun and I am still amazed that I stayed in as long as I did.  This ten verse cycle is from that challenge.  The task was to write ten verses with one repeating line in each to the prompt "Halloween" or "Samhain."

Blossom of summer

ripened to rich harvest gold

as the wheel comes ‘round

Damp, cold, and fall mists

creep in with bounty’s decay

as the wheel comes ‘round

Mortality knocks

beckoning our acceptance

as the wheel comes ‘round

Spirits known and not

rise to remind of the time

as the wheel comes ‘round

The veil is thinnest

Invoke fire, gourd, spice and spook!

as the wheel comes ‘round

But none may you mock

These souls grimly remind us

as the wheel comes ‘round

Our time too shall come

life season curve to a close

as the wheel comes ‘round

Light the blaze to bright

See past veil, mold, clinging fog

as the wheel comes ‘round

For the wheel yet turns

there is no end, no stopping

as the wheel comes ‘round

Just a moment’s pause

living and dead face to face

as the wheel comes ‘round

(c) 2013 by Judith Cullen