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(It smiles at us!
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The world is free
Of ice and frost,
These words run free,
They criss and cross.)
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It smiles at us!
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The world is free
Of ice and frost,
The snow not yet, and
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A pure pile of blow
Lies on the peak.
We hasten upward,
To celebrate the ancient rite,
To praise there the Father of all.
Empty mind, empty orchestra,
Emptied starlight, starblind night.
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Let the flames blaze through the smoke!
Like a snake, like a snake!
Upward! Up! Our hearts must be slaked!
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Let the flames blaze through the smoke!
Perform the old, sacred custom,
To praise there the Father of All.
Upward! Up! Our hearts must be slaked.
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Disobey the laws of our stern conquerors –
The clean-shaven ice men, masked and headphoned.
We are heathen, we are sinners.
Surely we are near their certain trap,
And so we prime for desperate acts.
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Rankle our stern conquerors –
Who buy anything that moves,
Who wet-wipe life to death –
Surely we are near their certain trap,
And so we prime for desperate acts.
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And whoever this day
Fears to bring a sacrifice
Deserves his chains.
The world is free,
These words run free,
The wood is ready,
Pile it up for the burning!
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The Village is free!
The wood is ready,
Pile it up for the burning!
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Though they remain
In their tint-window perch,
Silently throughout,
With fresh courage,
Let us fulfill our duty.
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Spread out here,
Through the entire Village,
Through the entire city
And perform your duty.
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Those bloody conquerors!
With the very devil they invent
We’ll terrify them.
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With stakes and pitchforks
With flames and with rattling sticks,
We’ll make noise through the night
In these crazed city gorges,
In these canyoned honeycombs of modern lies.
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Come with stakes and pitchforks,
And with flames and rattling sticks.
We’ll make noise through the night
In these crazed city gorges,
In these canyoned honeycombs of modern lies.
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The owls will howl!
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The owls
Will howl!
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Come with stakes and pitchforks;
Like the devil,
And with wild rattling sticks,
Through these crazed city gorges
The owls
Will howl
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Come! Come! Come!
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We’ll have been so far,
That by day we will
Sing in secret to the Father of all!
Empty mind, empty orchestra,
Emptied starlight, starblind night.
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And when it is day
As soon as we may,
We’ll bring you a pure heart.
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And when it is day
As soon as we may
We’ll bring you a pure heart.
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Tonight indeed,
Many times,
We shall purify in smoke,
Like snakes, like snakes
Upward! Up! To purify our faith!
Our hearts must be slaked.
And even if they rob us of our ancient rite,
Who can take our fire from us?
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All hell is coming!
See how the bewitched bodies
Glow with flames through and through!
Werewolf and dragon woman,
Vixen and ghost
Passing by in flight!
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Frightening, bewitched bodies,
Werewolf and dragon woman,
Zig-zagging zombie,
Let us flee, let us run with them, let us flee with them!
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What a fearful scramble!
Fun fun fun let us all flee!
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And above the flames sparkles the Mischief One,
Into our hearts
Drips his hellion brew.
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Let us flee, let us run with it, let us flee from it!
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As the flame is purified in smoke,
Like snakes, like snakes,
Upward! Up!
Our hearts must be slaked,
To purify our faith!
–
As the flame is purified in smoke,
Like snakes, like snakes,
To purify our faith!
And even if they rob us of our ancient rite,
Who can take our fire from us?
Birthed by too much nothing for much too long
It comes to be impossibly, always, on this day,
Like smoke, like snakes,
And owls howl.
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Owls
Howl.
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This poem is inspired by Felix Mendelssohn’s “Die Erste Walpurgisnacht” (“The First Walpurgis Night”), itself inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem of the same name.
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Listen to the soundscape created for Halloween, by Lost in a State and Juniana!
Lost in a State 