Day of the Dead

It is good to see the faces grinning out of doorways,
replete with a gnashing of teeth,
a revelation of warts,
all the things hiding
in the shadows of our minds
we have buried, lost,
forgotten.

Yes, it is scary, isn’t it?

Dance then, dance to remember,

not to forget.

Who have you wronged? Where have you done right?

You are permitted
to remember now
on this Day,

this Day of the Dead

when you must not keep the ghosts down
or locked inside

any longer,

on this Day
when your strength fails,

when you let it fail

to save the living.

Better be it
at midnight then

among reminders of your own mind’s cataloguing
of events –

that place in you that never forgets,

not one thing –

Better be it there then

you stand fully naked
with four strong candles burning
to hem you in,

no not among your ancestors,
not among your whims,

only with the Truth
as you have lived It

in folly or in sin,
calm or rage,

love or honesty,
lies or evasions.

It matters not
except that you dance
for one long hour

unashamed enough
to hear

what your naked Mind
has to say –

your very own Gallery of Ghosts, Goblins,
Angels and Demons
caged within

for the living,

for the living,

on this Day of the Dead.

I will walk the dusty roads just after midnight
listening
for your cries.

Are they of joy, lust,

terror?

Yes, the winds will blow,
the leaves pile up in monstrous drifts about your doors,

your windows bulge out
equal to the task
of reflecting your torment

or your glories

for the living,

for the living,

and I will watch them all,

be etched such that remembrance

is all I have left

just before I let go,

fly with the wind

to places unknown

waiting for you too
to release,

ride with me

over the scrape of mountains bumping up against your naked bodies,

around the corona of the high white moon,

then onward

until looking down

together we see
how everything moves

for the living,

for the living,

on this Day of the Dead.

c. 2003 TDHawkes

For interesting info on this Day Google:

Day of the Dead in Mexico

All Hallows Eve

Catholic All Souls Day

All Hallows Eve in Britain

Halloween Online

Protestant Perspective

A Story of Halloween

© 2009