Demons
We'd dress as ghosts or devils once a year
to run and yell like vandals home-to-home,
high on the sugar we’d take by threats of harm
we'd chant at every door – but there was no fear,
for we played out roles from long-forgotten darks
when noxious, flesh-bound demons stalked, who'd kill
or maim at whim – those who’d evade their rule
confined like sheep, asleep behind bars and locks.
My children's children dress and do the like,
but chaperoned (kids don't go out alone)
and only in the twilight; when it's night,
parent and child are locked within the home
because "It's just not safe these days" – a fact
so calmly noted: Demon-time is back.
~~
George J. Dance, 2009
from Logos, and other logoi, 2021
[All rights reserved - used with permission
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